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)
- 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
- Say to the Court, it glowes,
- 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
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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “gave the lie.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gave_the_lie. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
