BETRAY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • 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

... liked Mrs. Boyd or the girl either," began Mrs. Dane. "There seemed something to conceal, some secret between them. I had a fancy Lilian was on the watch all the time lest her mother should betray it." ...

— The Girls at Mount Morris • Amanda Minnie Douglas

... not know anything about them, beyond the fact that they were places where fellows went for sport, and that he hoped people would think he went for sport also. His wading boots and his rod and creel would, he hoped, account for any haste he might betray in losing himself somewhere. ...

— The Lookout Man • B. M. Bower

... bribes, prevailed on Sir Robert Clifford to betray his employers; and he denouncing several famous English noblemen as being secretly the friends of Perkin Warbeck, the King had three of the foremost executed at once. Whether he pardoned the remainder because they were poor, I do not know; but it is only too probable that he refused to pardon one ...

— A Child's History of England • Charles Dickens

... own, and that the fact that the commander-in-chief was making sack-time would be much better for morale than the spectacle of him running around in circles. He shaved carefully; a stubble of beard on his chin might betray the fact that he was worried. Then he dressed, put his monocle in his eye, and called the headquarters that had been set up in Sid Harrington's—now his—office. A girl at the switchboard appeared on his screen, and gave place ...

— Ullr Uprising • Henry Beam Piper

... does, and would betray our coming miles away of a moonlit night. We'll drop all those things at Laramie. ...

— Starlight Ranch - and Other Stories of Army Life on the Frontier • Charles King

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