misconfide

English

Etymology

mis- +‎ confide

Verb

misconfide (third-person singular simple present misconfides, present participle misconfiding, simple past and past participle misconfided)

1. To confide in someone who does not deserve such trust.
   • 1838, Jamaica under the apprenticeship system, page 25:

     Though nothing can be more illegal than misconfiding to the gaoler, by the second clause of the act relating to the management of gaols—the 5th and 6th William IV,— a power which is taken from the local magistrates themselves by the Abolition Act, namely, that of punishing the apprentices; yet a still more arbitrary and unjust authority is given by it to one local magistrate, namely, to treat a repeated breach of these gaol regulations (laid down by themselves, and subject to no approval to render them legal) as a felony;

   • 1867 August 21, “A Dispensary Election”, in The Medical Press & Circular, volume 2, page 181:

     An effort, so scandalous to the system of representative guardians, to pervert the trust which has been misconfided to them, would, in our opinion, fully justify the Poor-law Commissioners in refusing their assent to the election.

   • 1901, Morgan P. Jones, The Chiefs of Cambria: A Welsh Tale of the Eleventh Century, page 124:

     Oh, happy he who wins a bride, And she who doth not misconfide; Theirs not a life in desert wide, But comfort, joy and fame.

Anagrams

• infodemics