deceive one’s looks v phr Also deceive one’s appearance scattered exc NEng old-fash
To belie one’s appearance.
1789 Hist. Rev. & Directory N. Amer. 1.99 SC, The soil of the river bottoms or swamps, no way deceive their appearance. It is almost impossible to give a just idea of the exuberant bounties of nature on this prolific soil. 1842 Highland Messenger (Asheville NC) 23 Sept [2]/6, He’s little, but perhaps he deceives his looks. 1845 Democratic Free Press (Detroit MI) 23 May [2]/1, The new Propeller Princeton came into port yesterday. . . She is a fine looking craft and does not deceive her looks. 1846 Taylor Views A-Foot 76 sePA, He is a little bald-headed man, with marked Jewish features, and is said not to deceive his looks. At any rate, his reputation is none of the best, either with Jews or Christians. 1866 Daily Examiner (San Francisco CA) 10 Apr [2]/3, It looks like rascality, and it doesn’t deceive its looks. 1877 IN State Bd. Ag. Annual Rept. for 1876 132, The soil is gray with subsoil of iron colored clay, which would indicate unproductiveness, still it to some extent deceives its appearance. 1884 Harris Mingo 227 GA, But we ’re what the Lord made us, I reckon, and people deceive their looks. 1902 Missoulian (Missoula MT) 18 Oct 3/2, Dug Watts . . was in town looking very dry, but many a man deceives his looks. 1903 DN 2.311 seMO, Deceive one’s looks. . . To be better (or worse) than one appears. Often used by horse-traders in speaking of broken-down steeds. 1907 DN 3.230 nwAR, Deceive one’s looks. . . To be better (or worse) than one appears. 1914 Ocala Banner (FL) 16 Jan [12]/5, McAdoo says he is not as green as he looks. He deceives his looks more than anyone we ever saw. 1942 McAtee Dial. Grant Co. IN 22 (as of 1890s), Deceive one’s looks . . to be different from what one appears; used of animals also. “Her heft’s all below the middle so she deceives her looks”. 1943 Eugene Register–Guard (OR) 9 Aug 8/2, [Advt:] It Deceives Its Looks—You might think it was brick, but it isn’t. 1950 Marshall News Messenger (TX) 13 Mar sec B 4/7, [Advt:] The other is a 1949 Chevrolet that sure looks much younger and doesn’t deceive its looks. c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Deceive one’s looks . . To be quite different, usually better, than one appears. 1984 Mt. Eagle (Whitesburg KY) 5 Dec sec B 2/2, It was all white corn so the meal looked good. It never deceived its looks any, and makes good old Kentucky corn pone.