Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To have or feel distrust; have no confidence.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb obsolete To be distrustful.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb obsolete To be distrustful
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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[4049] Fide et diffide, as a fox on the ice, take heed whom you trust.
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At the council-table he had ability enough to give himself the best counsel, but the unhappy modesty to diffide in it, indeed his only fault; for modesty is a paradox in majesty, and humility is a solecism in supremacy.
Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions. Vol. VII. 1634-1716 1823
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At the council-board he had the ability still to give himself the best counsel, but the unhappy modesty to diffide in it; indeed his only fault; for modesty is a paradox in majesty, and humility a solecism in supremacy.
Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions. Vol. III. 1634-1716 1823
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Wherefore, if this question were to be decided upon the ground of authority, the reality of the plot would be admitted; and it must be confessed, that, with regard to facts remote, in respect either of time or place, wise men generally diffide in their own judgment, and defer to that of those who have had a nearer view of them.
History of the Early Part of the Reign of James the Second Charles James Fox 1777
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