Word.ws English Dictionary

gave the lie

gave the lie is the simple past of give the lie.

Meaning of give the lie

Verb

give the lie (third-person singular simple present gives the lie, present participle giving the lie, simple past gave the lie, past participle given the lie)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive, transitive) To respond to an insult, accusation, or falsehood by saying the offender is lying, particularly in the context of provoking a challenge to a duel.
    • Say to the Court, it glowes,
      and shines like rotten wood;
      Say to the Church, it shewes
      whats good, and doth no good:
      If Church and Court reply,
      then giue them both the lye.c. 1592, Walter Raleigh, “The Lie”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), published 1608
  2. Used in give the lie to.

Questions about gave the lie

What is gave the lie the simple past of?
Gave the lie is the simple past of give the lie.

Words near gave the lie in the dictionary

  1. gave the dirts
  2. gave the elbow
  3. gave the finger
  4. gave the floor
  5. gave the game away
  6. gave the lie
  7. gave the lie to
  8. gave the royal treatment
  9. gave the sack
  10. gave the stem
  11. gave the time of day

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gave the lie (page history and authors); give the lie (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “gave the lie.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gave_the_lie. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.