▪ I. diˈssembling, vbl. n.
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb dissemble; dissimulation.
| c 1500 Lancelot 1950 Al..ther gilt he knowith..and ȝhit he hyme with-drowith Them to repref..And this it is wich that dissemblyng hot. 1553 N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices iii. xv, False pretending and also dissembling [simulatio et dissimulatio]. 1555 Latimer in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xxxvi. 102 Suche men had nede to take hede of their desemblings and clokings. 1643 Milton Divorce ii. viii, The perpetuall dissembling of offence. 1701 Rowe Amb. Stepmoth. ii. i. 468 Flattery, the meanest kind of base dissembling. 1862 Goulburn Pers. Relig. iv. iii. (1873) 273 Wilful dissembling of a generous emotion is the way to suppress it. |
▪ II. diˈssembling, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That dissembles; deceiving; hypocritical.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 299 b, Y⊇ most vnkynde & dissemblynge disciple Iudas. 1535 Coverdale Prov. x. 18 Dissemblynge lippes kepe hatred secretly. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. ii. 98 What wicked and dissembling glasse of mine, Made me compare with Hermias sphery eyne? 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 117 Double-hearted, dissembling, trickish..Men. 1875 Manning Mission H. Ghost ii. 52 A cunning and dissembling Countenance. |