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Reliance on the truth of something said or done; belief; faith; trust; confidence. When Jonathan and the people heard these words they gave no credit into them, nor received them. 1 Macc. x. 46.

, obscure, or perplex; to render less clear or intelligible. Such was his wisdom that his confidence did seldom darkenhis foresight. Bacon. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge Job. xxxviii. 2.

payable on demand. The demand [is] by the word of the holy ones. Dan. iv. 17. He that has confidence to turn his wishes into demands will be but a little way from thinking he ought to obtain them. Locke.

To trust; to rest with confidence; to rely; to confide; to be certain; -- with on or upon; as, we depend on the word or assurance of our friends; we depend on the mail at the usual hour. But if you 're rough, and use him like a dog, Depend upon it -- he 'll remain incog. Addison.

A resting with confidence; reliance; trust. Affectionate dependence on the Creator is the spiritual life of the soul. T. Erskine.

titled "Raising the wind." The name is applied to any needy, tricky, constant borrower; a confidence man.

The state of being diffident; distrust; want of confidence; doubt of the power, ability, or disposition of others. [Archaic] That affliction grew heavy upon me, and weighed me down even to a diffidence of God's mercy. Donne.

Wanting confidence in others; distrustful. [Archaic] You were always extremely diffident of their success. Melmoth.

from its main design or subject. The digressions I can not excuse otherwise, than by the confidence that no man will read them. Sir W. Temple.

To cast off as useless or as no longer of service; to dismiss from employment, confidence, or favor; to discharge; to turn away. They blame the favorites, and think it nothing extraordinary that the queen should . . . resolve to discard them. Swift.

To extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits of; to deprive of confidence; to deject; -- the opposite of encourage; as, he was discouraged in his undertaking; he need not be discouraged from a like attempt. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Col. iii. 21.…

The act of discouraging, or the state of being discouraged; depression or weakening of confidence; dejection.

To deprive of credibility; to destroy confidence or trust in; to cause disbelief in the accuracy or authority of. An occasion might be given to the . . . papists of discrediting our common English Bible. Strype.

To feel absence of trust in; not to confide in or rely upon; to deem of questionable sufficiency or reality; to doubt; to be suspicious of; to mistrust. Not distrusting my health. 2 Mac. ix. 22. To distrust the justice of your cause. Dryden. He that requireth the oath doth distrust that other. Udall. Of all afraid, Dis…

Not confident; diffident; wanting confidence or thrust; modest; as, distrustful of ourselves, of one's powers. Distrustful sense with modest caution speaks. Pope.

That distrusts; suspicious; lacking confidence in. -- Dis*trust"ing*ly, adv.

ecret) so that it may become generally known; to disclose; -- said of that which had been confided as a secret, or had been before unknown; as, to divulge a secret. Divulge not such a love as mine. Cowper.

To assert positively; to teach magisterially or with bold and undue confidence; to advance with arrogance. The pride of dogmatizing schools. Blackmore.

withhold assent to; to hesitate to believe, or to be inclined not to believe; to withhold confidence from; to distrust; as, I have heard the story, but I doubt the truth of it. To admire superior sense, and doubt their own! Pope. I doubt not that however changed, you keep So much of what is graceful. Tennyson. To doubt…

Having the spirits raised by success, or by hope; flushed or exalted with confidence; elated; exultant. O, thoughtless mortals! ever blind to fate, Too soon dejected, and dejected, and too soon elate. Pope. Our nineteenth century is wonderfully set up in its own esteem, wonderfully elate at its progress. Mrs. H. H. Jac…