Definition of "true"

The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; […]. Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., page 110

The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.

1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, page 249

Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. […] One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more peaceful.

2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845

[…] making his eye, foot, and hand keep true time […]

1820, Walter Scott, chapter XI, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], page 229

The Harpe. […] A harper with his wreſt maye tune the harpe wrong / Mys tunyng of an Inſtrument ſhal hurt a true ſonge

1568, William Cornysh, “In the Fleete Made by Me William Cornishe [...]”, in John Skelton, edited by J[ohn] S[tow], Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate, Imprinted at London: In Fletestreate, neare vnto Saint Dunstones Churche by Thomas Marshe; republished as Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate to King Henry the VIIIth, London: Printed for C. Davis in Pater-noster Row, 1736, page 290

The Washington Monument is often described as an obelisk, and sometimes even as a “true obelisk,” even though it is not. A true obelisk is a monolith, a pylon formed out of a single piece of stone.

2012 January, Henry Petroski, “The Washington Monument”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 16

Whate'er the weapon, still his aim was true, Nor e'er in vain the fatal bullet flew.

1801, Mrs. Cowley, “The siege of Acre”, in The British Critic, volumes 17-18, page 521

I held my breath and struck the ball. My aim was true, but I didn't give the damn thing enough gas. It died three feet from the cup.

2008, Carl Hiaasen, The downhill lie: a hacker's return to a ruinous sport, page 188

Let Z t {\displaystyle Z_{t}} be twice the value of a true die shown on the t {\displaystyle t} -th toss.

1990, William W. S. Wei, Time Series Analysis, page 8

In fact, few profit margins can be predicted with such reliability as those provided by a true roulette wheel or other game of chance.

2006, Judith A. Baer, Leslie Friedman Goldstein, The Constitutional and Legal Rights of Women: Cases in Law and Social Change

We do not reject, because 9 heads and 3 tails is in a set of reasonably likely results when we toss a true coin.

2012, Peter Sprent, Applied Nonparametric Statistical Methods, Springer Science & Business Media, page 5

[A] skinny blonde of about twenty sitting in an armchair by an electric fire reading a true romance magazine.

1965, James Holledge, What Makes a Call Girl?, London: Horwitz Publications, page 69

Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3

I tel you true my hart is ſwolne with wrath,On this ſame theeuish villain Tamburlain.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)

Some toolmakers are very careless when drilling the first hole through work that is to be bored, claiming that if the drilled hole comes out of true somewhat it can be brought true with the boring tool.

1904, Lester Gray French, Machinery, volume 10

She clapped her hands happily, and he thought how pretty she was really, that is, the upper part of her face—from the bridge of the nose down she was somewhat out of true.

1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “(please specify the page)”, in Tales of the Jazz Age, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons

The crate shifted on its pallet, out of sync now. As the lift withdrew, the crate skidded with it, dragged by friction and gravity, skewing farther and farther from true.

1988, Lois McMaster Bujold, Falling Free, Baen Publishing,, page 96

The strength and number of blows depends on how far out of true the shafts are.

1994, Bruce Palmer, How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson