BETRAY • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Betray

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/bɪtrˈeɪ/ Listen

verb

Betray v. t. (past & past part. betrayed; pres. part. betraying)

1.

To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly; as, an officer betrayed the city. "Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men."

2.

To prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive; as, to betray a person or a cause. "But when I rise, I shall find my legs betraying me."

3.

To violate the confidence of, by disclosing a secret, or that which one is bound in honor not to make known. "Willing to serve or betray any government for hire."

4.

To disclose or discover, as something which prudence would conceal; to reveal unintentionally. "Be swift to hear, but cautious of your tongue, lest you betray your ignorance."

5.

To mislead; to expose to inconvenience not foreseen to lead into error or sin. "Genius... often betrays itself into great errors."

6.

To lead astray, as a maiden; to seduce (as under promise of marriage) and then abandon.

7.

To show or to indicate; said of what is not obvious at first, or would otherwise be concealed. "All the names in the country betray great antiquity."

See images of 'Betray'

Etymology of 'Betray'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Betray" Quotes from Famous Books

... on this till noon; he trimming, lifting and placing the logs—and elephants have never swung teak more splendidly—while I, with our jointed camp spade, filled in the sand. The use of an axe could not possibly betray our position as Efaw Kotee had been betrayed, because the breeze continued from him to us, and also for the equally good reason that the bite of an axe in soggy palmetto does not sound with anything like the ring that is caused by ...

— Wings of the Wind • Credo Harris

... by; the children were behind the heavy red curtains that parted off the second room. There was a great silence at first, then began a little tittering, then a little chattering, then presently a stifled explosion. Lady Barbara began to betray some restlessness; she really must see what that child ...

— Countess Kate • Charlotte M. Yonge

... vehicle. But those who pray and weep have retired into the solitude of their rooms, for God alone must receive their sighs and see their tears. The eyes which follow the queen on her last journey must not weep; the words which are shouted at her must betray no compassion. ...

— The Empress Josephine • Louise Muhlbach

... says at p. 15, "I found him actually using of such [prelates], (and, as I thought, of himself and his party likewise), the words 'They yield outwardly; to assent inwardly were to betray the faith. Yet they are called deceitful and double-dealing, because they do as much as they can, not more than they may.'" This too is a proof of my duplicity! Let this writer go with some one else, just a little ...

— Apologia pro Vita Sua • John Henry Newman

... Godfrey must not betray him: "I couldn't endure that Horace and his wife should know of my difficulties; and as to living on Aunt Harriet—never! And how could I go back to Fordborough, now that Sissy and I have parted? She would sacrifice herself for me—poor child!—out of sheer pity. ...

— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. July, 1878. • Various

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