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veriest |
1 definition found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Very \Ver"y\, a. [Compar. {Verier}; 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. Whether thou be my very son Esau or not --Gen. xxvii. 21. He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. --Prov. xvii. 9. The very essence of truth is plainness and brightness. --Milton. I looked on the consideration of public service or public ornament to be real and very justice. --Burke. 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. {Very Reverend}. See the Note under {Reverend}.
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