misdoubt

English

Etymology

From mis- +‎ doubt.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /mɪsˈdaʊt/

• Audio (Southern England):

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Verb

misdoubt (third-person singular simple present misdoubts, present participle misdoubting, simple past and past participle misdoubted)

1. (archaic, regional) To doubt the existence or reality of.
   • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC:

     And though all the windes of doctrin were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licencing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength.

   • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

     ‘Ay!’ he said. ‘I don't misdoubt it. —But twenty guineas for a bit of a paintin' as he knocked off in an hour or two—!’

     Penguin 2006, p. 296

2. (archaic, regional) To have suspicions about.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     I do not misdoubt my wife, but I would be loath to turn them together

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 28:

     "I misdoubt me much that he is a spy!" whispered one of the elder cavaliers.

Noun

misdoubt

1. suspicion; hesitation