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What is "belie"

Crossword clues for belie

belie
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
belie
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
fact
▪ Tuscan columns in the Great Hall and a magnificent new entrance belied the fact that this was a small house.
▪ But this piece of ideological mystification is belied by the facts.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Two large tears belied Rosalie's brave words.
▪ With a quickness that belied her age, she ran across the road.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Again, as with the McCone Commission, surfaces belied depths.
▪ He wore shorts and a T-shirt that revealed well-muscled legs and arms and a strong neck that belied the grizzled hair.
▪ The bright October day belied the cold wind.
▪ The Chamber Symphony No. 2, begun in 1906 and completed in 1939, belies its fearsome reputation.
▪ The score belies the ferocious chessboard duel that we have witnessed over the past month and a half.
▪ The subjects, even those in synthetically casual poses, have a rigid alertness that belies their awareness of the camera.
▪ Their pasty faces - the result of long periods underground - belie their extraordinary strength and tenacity.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Belie

Belie \Be*lie"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Belied; p. pr. & vb. n. Belying.] [OE. bilien, bili?en, AS. bele['o]gan; pref. be- + le['o]gan to lie. See Lie, n.]

  1. To show to be false; to convict of, or charge with, falsehood.

    Their trembling hearts belie their boastful tongues.
    --Dryden.

  2. To give a false representation or account of.

    Should I do so, I should belie my thoughts.
    --Shak.

  3. To tell lie about; to calumniate; to slander.

    Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost belie him.
    --Shak.

  4. To mimic; to counterfeit. [Obs.]
    --Dryden.

  5. To fill with lies. [Obs.] ``The breath of slander doth belie all corners of the world.''
    --Shak.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
belie

Old English beleogan "to deceive by lies," from be- + lie (v.1) "to lie, tell lies." Current sense of "to contradict as a lie" is first recorded 1640s. The other verb lie once also had a formation like this, from Old English belicgan, which meant "to encompass, beleaguer," and in Middle English was a euphemism for "to have sex with" (i.e. "to lie with carnally").

Wiktionary
belie

Etymology 1 vb. 1 (context transitive obsolete English) To lie around; encompass. 2 (context transitive obsolete of an army English) To surround; beleaguer. Etymology 2

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To tell lies about; to slander. (from 13th c.) 2 (context transitive English) To give a false representation of, to misrepresent. (from 17th c.) 3 (context transitive English) To contradict, to show (something) to be false. (from 17th c.) 4 (context transitive perhaps nonstandard English) To be shown false by contradicting (something) that is true; to conceal the contradictory or ironic presence of (something). 5 (context transitive perhaps nonstandard English) To show, evince, demonstrate: to show (something) to be present, particularly something deemed contradictory or ironic. 6 (context obsolete English) To mimic; to counterfeit. 7 (context transitive obsolete English) To fill with lies.

WordNet
belie

  1. v. be in contradiction with [syn: contradict, negate]

  2. represent falsely; "This statement misrepresents my intentions" [syn: misrepresent]

  3. [also: belying]

Usage examples of "belie".

With a fluidity that belied her appearance, Buddy dropped into a perfect lotus beside the deck, then turned to stare up at me, waiting.

There was a gharial beneath that deceptively calm surfacean ancient reptilian creature whose ferocity and ruthlessness belied the surface calm.

The Major Domo removed his mask to reveal a heavily joweled, ruddy face topped with graying red curls and shrewd blue eyes that belied his otherwise pleasant expression.

Major Domo removed his mask to reveal a heavily joweled, ruddy face topped with graying red curls and shrewd blue eyes that belied his otherwise pleasant expression.

The tranquility of the scene, even through the driving rain, seemed to belie the dire circumstances in which Omicron now found itself.

The story of German life during this interval is a rowdy and unhappy story--a story of faction fights and street encounters, demonstrations and counter-demonstrations, of a complicating tyranny of blackmailing officials, and at last of an ill managed and unsuccessful war, that belied the innate orderliness of the Teutonic peoples.

Steve Josephson, who inserted the large phlebotomy needle into a vein with a dexterity belied by his thick fingers.

Greene was a strong, powerful man, widely re- puted to be handsome as sin, and with a devilishly charming smile that belied an occasionally ferocious temper.

Sergeant Tace spoke, in a clear soft voice, which belied his appearance.

Her rose gown, covered with a grey lace overdress, belied its cost with simplicity of cut.

Platonic love originates in this dialogue, and Kundera performs a parodic variation on it by staging a discussion of love in a hospital, place of bodily breakdown and repair, that decidedly emphasizes the physical even as it comically belies the validity of that very solid source of erotic power.

Kitty echoed dubiously, but she assumed a demure expression, belied only by the sparkle in her dark, ex pressive eyes, and linked her arm in that of her brother.

She spoke in a normal tone that belied the sudden squirmy sensations his compliment had caused.

It was opened a few moments later by Lord Draco, who took in the fallen guards and the tonsured priests with a glance, reaching for his sword with a speed that belied his age.

Flinging away his cigarette, Reggie grabbed for Clyde, nabbed him with a powerful grip that belied his unmuscular appearance.