Truth1, n.
n.; pl. TRUTHS (99). [O. Eng. truthe, treuthe, trouthe, A-S. treówðe, treóðh, trywðh. See TRUE, and cf. TROTH.]
Sense 1. The quality of being true; as, (a.) Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be. (b.) Conformity to rule; exactness; close correspondence with an example, model, object of imitation, or the like. “Plows, to go true, depend much on the truth of the iron work.” Mortimer. (c.) Fidelity; constancy.
Alas! they had been friends in youth, But whispering tongues can poison truth. Coleridge.
(d.) The practice of speaking truth; habitual disposition to speak truth; freedom from falsehood; veracity; as, he is a man of truth. (e.) Honesty; virtue.
It must appear That malice bears down truth. Shak.
Sense 2. That which is true or certain concerning any matter or subject, or generally on all subjects; real state of things; verity; reality.
I long to know the truth hereof at large. Shak.
The truth depends on, or is only arrived at by, a legitimate deduction from all the facts which are truly material. Coleridge.
Sense 3. A true thing; a verified fact; a true statement or proposition; an established principle, fixed law, or the like; as, the great truths of morals.
My mouth shall speak truth. Prov. viii. 7.
Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth. John xvii. 17.
In truth, in reality; in fact.—Of a truth, in reality; certainly.—To do truth, to practice what God commands.