Exact historical dictionary sense

Faith in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels faith as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Faith

[OE. feith, fayth, fay, OF. feid, feit, fei, F. foi, fr. L. fides; akin to fidere to trust, Gr. pei`qein to persuade. The ending th is perhaps due to the influence of such words as truth, health, wealth. See Bid, Bide, and cf. Confide, Defy, Fealty.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordfaith
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[OE. feith, fayth, fay, OF. feid, feit, fei, F. foi, fr. L. fides; akin to fidere to trust, Gr. pei`qein to persuade. The ending th is perhaps due to the influence of such words as truth, health, wealth. See Bid, Bide, and cf. Confide, Defy, Fealty.]
Selected historical definitionBelief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting solely and implicitly on his authority and veracity; reliance on testimony.
Signed record IDwebster1913-faith-noun-8e6af0e90cf7
Source locatorCIDE.F, paragraph 537; Gutenberg eBook 663
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "faith" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OE. feith, fayth, fay, OF. feid, feit, fei, F. foi, fr. L. fides; akin to fidere to trust, Gr. pei`qein to persuade. The ending th is perhaps due to the influence of such words as truth, health, wealth. See Bid, Bide, and cf. Confide, Defy, Fealty.]" The selected historical definition says: "Belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting solely and implicitly on his authority and veracity; reliance on testimony."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

More released F records

Every card owns a different source record and historical sense.

Browse released F records - browse all historical records.