gullibility
(gʌlɪˈbɪlɪtɪ)
[App. an alteration of cullibility, after gull v.3
‘A low expression, sometimes used for cullibility’ (Todd 1818).]
The quality of being gullible.
| 1793 Ld. Auckland Corr. (1861) II. 505 He [Dumouriez]..by favour of the Duke of Brunswick's gullibility, gets considerable credit. 1809 N. Slone in Europ. Mag. Jan. 18/2 This gentleman..entertained the House with a long descant upon the gullibility of the English nation..our future lexicographers will be much indebted to him for sanctioning a word so well calculated to enrich our language. 1826 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 86/2 He had sounded the gullibility of the world; knew the precise current value of pretension [etc.]. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. (1858) 69 In Education, Polity, Religion,..probably Imposture is of sanative, anodyne nature, and man's Gullibility not his worst blessing. 1874 Burnand My Time xxxix. 442 [He] practised on the gullibility of..undergraduates. |