Counterfeit (Hastings' Dictionary)

Only in Apocr. 1. As adj. Wis 15' '[the potter] endeavoureth to do like the workers in brass, and countetli it his glory to make c. things ' ; Gr. k(/35i)Xo, things made in imitation of other more valuable things, hence spurious, the mod. meaning of the word. This reference is to earthenware figures made and glazed so as to resemble the precious metals.* 2. As subst. Wis 2" 'We are esteemed of him as counterfeits' (ei« /c(j3Ji)Xo^ ; Vulg.

tamquam nugaces, the only occur- rence of nngax in Vulg.) ; 14" ' they took the c. of his visage from far' (rjix rb^l>uSeii 6\j/iti ivarviruai- luvoi, ItV ' imagining the likeness from afar '). Here c. is used in the obsol. sense of a representa- tion of any person or thing by painting, sculpture, etc., a likeness, image. Cf. Shaks. Merch. oj Venice, Ul. ii. 115 — 'What find I here J Fair Portia's counterfeit ; * and Holland (1606), Sueton.

39, 'An olde little counterfeit in brasse representing him being a child.' 3. As vb. Sir 38" ' They that cut and grave seals . . give themselves to c. imagery ' (o^oiio-at ^(•rypaiplay, RV ' to preserve likeness in his por- traiture'). Cf. Tindale's Address to the Reader (NT 15'25), ' I had no man to counterfet, nether was holpe wth englysshe of eny that had inter- preted the same.' J. HASTINGS. COUNTERVAIL Est 7* 'the enemy could not 0.

the king's damage' (RV 'the adversary could not have compensated for the king's damage ') ; and Sir 6" ' Nothing doth c. a faithful friend '(RV ' there is nothing tliat can be taken in exchange for a faithful friend '). In Est 7* the meaning ia 'make an equivalent return for' (Geneva 'recom- pense '), as Stubbes(1583), Aruit. Abus. 63, ' though I be unable with any benefit to countervail youi great pains.' In Sir 6"c. has the older meaning of 'equal in value'; cf. More, Utopia (Robinson's tr.

1551), 'All the goodes in the worlde are not liable to countervayle man's hfe.' J. Hastings.