Middle English Dictionary Entry
ipocrite n.
Entry Info
| Forms | ipocrite n. Also epocrite. |
| Etymology | OF ipocrite & L hypocrita, from Gr. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
One who pretends to be what he is not, one who falsely simulates goodness or piety, a hypocrite.
Associated quotations
- c1230(?a1200) Ancr.(Corp-C 402)68/17 : Te false ancre..habbeð efter þe uox a simple semblant sum chearre, & beoð þah ful of gile; Makieð ham oþre þen ha beoð, ase uox þe is ypocrite.
- (1340) Ayenb.(Arun 57)25/29 : Þanne byeþ þo ypocrites þet makeþ ham guode men and ne byeþ naȝt.
- (a1382) WBible(1) (Dc 369(1))Is.9.17 : For eche ipocrite [L hypocrita] is and a shrewe.
- (a1387) Trev.Higd.(StJ-C H.1)7.409 : Ȝif he torned awey his face, he was i-cleped an ipocrite [L hypocrita].
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.Pars.(Manly-Rickert)I.394 : Ypocrite is he that hideth to shewe hym swich as he is and sheweth hym swich as he noght is.
- (a1393) Gower CA (Frf 3)1.594 : An ypocrite is..A man which feigneth conscience, As thogh it were al innocence, Withoute, and is noght so withinne.
- a1400(c1303) Mannyng HS (Hrl 1701)12496 : With skorne wenest þou þe quyte As a fals ypocryte.
- a1400 Cursor (Frf 14)27599 : Þat is..duȝti man wiþ-out to seme & Ipocrite wiþ-in to deme.
- (a1402) Trev.DCur.(Hrl 1900)84/5 : Ȝif Crist beggide wilfullich, he was a verrey ypocryte, semyng a begger & was no verrey begger.
- a1425(?a1400) RRose (Htrn 409)6895 : Scribes and Pharisen..the cursid men Whiche that we ypocritis calle.
- (c1426) Audelay Poems (Dc 302)15/133 : Þay likon hym to a lollere and to an epocryte.
- ?c1430(c1400) Wycl.FCLife (Corp-C 296)188 : Þe fendis blyndiþ ypocritis to excuse hem by feyned contemplatif lif.
- (1434) Misyn ML (Corp-O 236)114/13 : If one or two thynke well, ȝit odyr an ypocrite or a fenyd man will call hym.
- c1440(a1349) Rolle 10 Com.(Thrn)11/7 : With werke ypocrittes takes Goddes nam in vayne, For they feyne gud dede with-owtten.
- c1460(a1449) Lydg.Virtue (Hrl 2255)51 : An ypocrite Reioysith hymsylf in symylacioun.
- (1451) Capgr.St.Gilb.(Add 36704)137/36 : Þe testimonie of good werkis be him-self alone is sumtyme fals and deceyuable, as may be sen openly in þese ypocrites.
- ?a1475(a1396) *Hilton SP (Hrl 6579)1.59.40a : Þer ben manie ypocrites, and neuerþeles þei wenen þat þei ben non, and þer ben manie þat dreden hem self as ypocrites, and soþli þei arn none.
- a1500(?a1425) Chester Pl.Antichr.(Pen 399)357 : You ypocritis that so cryn, losells, lurdans, lowdelye you lyne!
- a1500(?c1425) Spec.Sacer.(Add 36791)105/12 : An-other [kind of poverty] is of simylacion and of feynyng, and that is of ypocrites.
- c1500(?a1475) Ass.Gods (Trin-C R.3.19)701 : Bolde blasphemers, with false ipocrytes.