Honest, a.
Etymology: [OE. honest, onest, OF. honeste, oneste, F. honnête, L. honestus, fr. honos, honor, honor. See Honor.]
1. Decent; honorable; suitable; becoming. Chaucer. Belong what honest clothes you send forth to bleaching! Shak.
2. Characterized by integrity or fairness and straightas, an honest judge or merchant; an honest statement; an honest bargain; an honest business; an honest book; an honest confession. An honest man's the noblest work of God. Pope. An honest physician leaves his patient when he can contribute no farther to his health. Sir W. Temple. Look ye out among you seven men of honest report. Acts vi. 3. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Rom. xii. 17.
3. Open; frank; as, an honest countenance.
4. Chaste; faithfuk; virtuous. Wives may be merry, and yet honest too. Shak.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Upright; ingenuous; honorable; trusty; faithful; equitable; fair; just; rightful; sincere; frank; candid; genuine.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Honest, v. t.
To adorn; to grace; to honor; to make becoming, appropriate, or honorable. [Obs.] Abp. Sandys.
Shades of meaning
One who is honest in the ordinary sense acts or is always disposed to act with careful regard for the rights of others, especially in matters of business or property; one who is honorable scrupulously observes the dictates of a personal honor that is higher than any demands of mercantile law or public opinion, and will do nothing unworthy of his own inherent nobility of soul. The honest man does not steal, cheat, or defraud; the honorable man will not take an unfair advantage that would be allowed him, or will make a sacrifice which no one could require of him, when his own sense of right demands it. One who is honest in the highest and fullest sense is scrupulously careful to adhere to all known truth and right even in thought. In this sense honest differs from honorable as having regard rather to absolute truth and right than to even the highest personal honor. Compare candid; justice.