Veriest

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Very \Ver"y\ (v[e^]r"[y^]), a. [Compar. {Verier}
     (v[e^]r"[i^]*[~e]r); superl. {Veriest}.] [OE. verai, verray,
     OF. verai, vrai, F. vrai, (assumed) LL. veracus, for L. verax
     true, veracious, fr. verus true; akin to OHG. & OS. w[=a]r,
     G. wahr, D. waar; perhaps originally, that is or exists, and
     akin to E. was. Cf. {Aver}, v. t., {Veracious}, {Verdict},


     {Verity}.]
     True; real; actual; veritable.
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           Whether thou be my very son Esau or not. --Gen. xxvii.
                                                    21.
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           He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he
           that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.
                                                    --Prov. xvii.
                                                    9.
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           The very essence of truth is plainness and brightness.
                                                    --Milton.
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           I looked on the consideration of public service or
           public ornament to be real and very justice. --Burke.
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     Note: Very is sometimes used to make the word with which it
           is connected emphatic, and may then be paraphrased by
           same, self-same, itself, and the like. "The very hand,
           the very words." --Shak. "The very rats instinctively
           have quit it." --Shak. "Yea, there where very
           desolation dwells." --Milton. Very is used occasionally
           in the comparative degree, and more frequently in the
           superlative. "Was not my lord the verier wag of the
           two?" --Shak. "The veriest hermit in the nation."
           --Pope. "He had spoken the very truth, and transformed
           it into the veriest falsehood." --Hawthorne.
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     {Very Reverend}. See the Note under {Reverend}.
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