n. & v.
n. 1 an intentionally false statement (tell a lie; pack of lies). 2 imposture; false belief (live a lie).
v.intr. & tr. (lies, lied, lying) 1 intr. a tell a lie or lies (they lied to me). b (of a thing) be deceptive (the camera cannot lie). 2 tr. (usu. refl.; foll. by into, out of) get (oneself) into or out of a situation by lying (lied themselves into trouble; lied my way out of danger). give the lie to serve to show the falsity of (a supposition etc.). lie-detector an instrument for determining whether a person is telling the truth by testing for physiological changes considered to be symptomatic of lying.
[ OE lyge leogan f. Gmc ]