confide

From Middle Scots confide, confyde (“to put trust in”), from Latin confīdere (“to put trust in, have confidence in”),^[1] from con- (“together”) + fidēre (“to trust”). First attested in English use in the early 17th century.^[1][2] Doublet of faith and fidelity.

• IPA^(key): /kənˈfaɪd/

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• Rhymes: -aɪd

confide (third-person singular simple present confides, present participle confiding, simple past and past participle confided)

1. (intransitive, now rare) To trust, have faith (in).
   • 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society, published 1985, page 269:

     "Be calm, lovely Antonia!" he replied; "no danger in near you: confide in my protection."

   • 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter II, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 16:

     I shall do nothing rashly: you know me sufficiently to confide in my prudence and consideration whenever the safety of others is committed to my care.

   • 1807, Lord Byron, The Prayer of Nature:

     In thy protection I confide.

2. (transitive, dated) To entrust (something) to the responsibility of someone.

   I confide this mission to you alone.

3. (intransitive, with in) To take (someone) into one's confidence, to speak in secret with.

   I could no longer keep this secret alone; I decided to confide in my brother.

4. (transitive, intransitive) To say (something) in confidence.

   After several drinks, I confided my problems to the barman.

   She confided that her marriage had been in trouble for some time.

   • 1977 December 10, Mark N. Silber, “Gays On Campus — One Story”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 23, page 15:

     One student had been so afraid to come out to our meetings that he would secretly meet me in the bookshelves of the library and confide about the miseries of being gay, closeted, and a a virgin.

• “confide”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “confide”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

cōnfīde

1. second-person singular present active imperative of cōnfīdō