שָׁקַר (b. h.) to be false. Gen. R. s. 85, beg. שָׁקַרְתָּ יהודה thou hast been false, O Judah; Yalk. ib. 144; Yalk. Mal. 589.
Pi. - שִׁיקֵּר 1) same, same, to lie; to defraud.—מה לי לשַׁקּר what reason should I have for making a false statement?, i.e. a person’s statement is to be credited, when he gains nothing by it, since he might have obtained the same advantage in another way. Kidd. 64ᵇ אמרינן מה לי לשקר וכ׳ we apply the principle that we believe him, because he gains nothing by falsehood: for, why should he have said so? In order to release her from leviratical marriage after his death? If so, he might have said to her: I release thee by a divorce. Ib. מה לי לש׳ כי עדים דמי a person’s statement accepted on the ground that he had no reason for lying, has the same legal value as the statement of witnesses; מה לי לש׳ כי חזקה דמי it has only the same value as a presumption (חֲזָקָה). Keth. 27ᵇ מה לי לש׳ אי בעי וכ׳ we must believe him, for, if he had wanted, he might have said &c. Ib. מה לי לש׳ במקום עדים וכ׳ we do not apply the principle of mah li l’shaḳḳer, when the person’s statement is contradicted by witnesses (by well-known facts); B. Mets. 81ᵇ; a. fr.—Y. Snh. XI, 30ᶜ top (expl. כחש לו, I Kings XIII, 18) שי׳ בו (not ביה) he played him false; Cant. R. to II, 5 שי׳ לו; ib. ומה שי׳ לו שהאכילהו וכ׳ and wherein did he play him false? In that he gave him the bread of deceit to eat (made him the recipient of treacherous hospitality). Num. R. s. 2018; Tanḥ. Balak 12 מְשַׁקֵּר במשקלות, v. מִשְׁקָל; a. fr. —2) to prove false; to contradict, refute. Macc. 5ᵃ (ref. to Deut. XIX, 18) עד שתְּשַׁקֵּר גופה וכ׳ until thou disprovest the body of the testimony (provest an alibi of the witnesses).