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2. Not faithful or loyal, as to obligations, allegiance, vows, etc.; untrue; treacherous; perfidious; as, a false
friend, lover, or subject; false to promises.
I to myself was false, ere thou to me. Milton. 3. Not according with truth or reality; not true; fitted or likely to deceive or disappoint; as, a false statement.
4. Not genuine or real; assumed or designed to deceive; counterfeit; hypocritical; as, false tears; false
modesty; false colors; false jewelry.
False face must hide what the false heart doth know. Shak. 5. Not well founded; not firm or trustworthy; erroneous; as, a false claim; a false conclusion; a false construction
in grammar.
Whose false foundation waves have swept away. Spenser. 6. Not essential or permanent, as parts of a structure which are temporary or supplemental.
7. (Mus.) Not in tune.
False arch (Arch.), a member having the appearance of an arch, though not of arch construction. —
False attic, an architectural erection above the main cornice, concealing a roof, but not having windows
or inclosing rooms. — False bearing, any bearing which is not directly upon a vertical support; thus,
the weight carried by a corbel has a false bearing. — False cadence, an imperfect or interrupted
cadence. — False conception (Med.), an abnormal conception in which a mole, or misshapen fleshy
mass, is produced instead of a properly organized fetus. — False croup (Med.), a spasmodic affection
of the larynx attended with the symptoms of membranous croup, but unassociated with the deposit of
a fibrinous membrane. — False door or window (Arch.), the representation of a door or window,
inserted to complete a series of doors or windows or to give symmetry. — False fire, a combustible
carried by vessels of war, chiefly for signaling, but sometimes burned for the purpose of deceiving an
enemy; also, a light on shore for decoying a vessel to destruction. — False galena. See Blende.
— False imprisonment (Law), the arrest and imprisonment of a person without warrant or cause,
or contrary to law; or the unlawful detaining of a person in custody. — False keel (Naut.), the timber
below the main keel, used to serve both as a protection and to increase the shio's lateral resistance. —
False key, a picklock. — False leg. (Zoöl.) See Proleg. — False membrane (Med.), the fibrinous
deposit formed in croup and diphtheria, and resembling in appearance an animal membrane. — False
papers (Naut.), documents carried by a ship giving false representations respecting her cargo, destination,
ect., for the purpose of deceiving. — False passage (Surg.), an unnatural passage leading off from a
natural canal, such as the urethra, and produced usually by the unskillful introduction of instruments. —
False personation (Law), the intentional false assumption of the name and personality of another.
— False pretenses (Law), false representations concerning past or present facts and events, for
the purpose of defrauding another. — False rail (Naut.), a thin piece of timber placed on top of the
head rail to strengthen it. — False relation (Mus.), a progression in harmony, in which a certain note
in a chord appears in the next chord prefixed by a flat or sharp. — False return (Law), an untrue
return made to a process by the officer to whom it was delivered for execution. — False ribs (Anat.),
the asternal rebs, of which there are five pairs in man. — False roof (Arch.), the space between the
upper ceiling and the roof. Oxford Gloss. — False token, a false mark or other symbol, used for
fraudulent purposes. — False scorpion (Zoöl.), any arachnid of the genus Chelifer. See Book scorpion.
— False tack (Naut.), a coming up into the wind and filling away again on the same tack. — False
vampire (Zoöl.), the Vampyrus spectrum of South America, formerly erroneously supposed to have
blood-sucking habits; — called also vampire, and ghost vampire. The genuine blood-sucking bats belong
to the genera Desmodus and Diphylla. See Vampire. — False window. (Arch.) See False door,
above. — False wing. (Zoöl.) See Alula, and Bastard wing, under Bastard. — False works (Civil
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