dissimulation
(dɪˌsɪmjuːˈleɪʃən)
Also 4–6 -symul-, 5 -symyl-, 4–6 -acion, -acioun, -acyoun, -atyon.
[a. OF. dissimulation (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. dissimulātiōn-em, n. of action from dissimulāre: see dissimule.]
1. The action of dissimulating or dissembling; concealment of what really is, under a feigned semblance of something different; feigning, hypocrisy.
| c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 415 He wolde þat the frere had been on fire With his false dissymulacion. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 74 O derke ypocrisie, Thurgh whos dissimulacion..I am þus wickedly deceiued. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vi. ccv. 217 Thus with shame he ended, that in falshode and dissymylacion had contynued moche of his lyfe. 1538 Starkey England ii. ii. 191 Hys owne clyent..by hys dyssymulatyon and fare wordys was interteynyd in long sute. 1611 Bible Rom. xii. 9 Let loue be without dissimulation. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 213 ¶1 Simulation is a Pretence of what is not, and Dissimulation a Concealment of what is. 1780 Cowper Table T. 129 Smooth Dissimulation, skilled to grace A devil's purpose with an angel's face. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. I. 238 An indifferent master of the tricks of dissimulation to which he was reduced. |
b. with a and pl. An instance of this; an act of dissembling. Obs. or arch.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame ii. 179 Moo dissymulacions And feyned reparacions. c 1400 Three Kings Cologne 13 Þe kyng Ezechias of verry Innocency of hert made a dissimilation. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. lxiii. 129 a, All those dissimulations which he did vse. |
† c. Dissimulated or disguised form. Obs. rare.
| 1671 Milton P.R. i. 497 Satan, bowing low His gray dissimulation, disappeared Into thin air diffused. |
† 2. A fanciful name for a ‘company’ or flock of small birds. Obs.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans F vj a, A Dissimulacion of breddis. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 311/1 A flock of small Birds, or a dissimulation of Birds. |