suborn

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • v suborn induce to commit perjury or give false testimony "The President tried to suborn false witnesses"
    • v suborn procure (false testimony or perjury)
    • v suborn incite to commit a crime or an evil deed "He suborned his butler to cover up the murder of his wife"
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • Suborn (Law) To procure or cause to take a false oath amounting to perjury, such oath being actually taken.
    • Suborn To procure privately, or by collusion; to procure by indirect means; to incite secretly; to instigate. "Thou art suborned against his honor.""Those who by despair suborn their death."
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • suborn To furnish; equip; adorn; ornament.
    • suborn To furnish or procure unlawfully; procure by indirect moans.
    • suborn To bribe or unlawfully procure to some act of wickedness—specifically, in law, to giving false testimony; induce, as a witness, to perjury.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • v.t Suborn sub-orn′ to cause to commit a perjury: to procure indirectly
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
F. suborner, L. subornare,; sub, under, secretly + ornare, to furnish, provide, equip, adorn. See Ornament
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
L. subornāre—sub, under, ornāre, to adorn.

Usage

In literature:

Thou art suborned to slander the noblest lord, and the truest-hearted gentleman, in England!
"The Best of the World's Classics, Vol. V (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland III" by Various
People suborned, {too,} to say that she is a citizen of this place!
"The Comedies of Terence" by Publius Terentius Afer, (AKA) Terence
And witnesses Suborn'd, to prove that she's a citizen?
"The Comedies of Terence" by Publius Terentius Afer
Let degenerate Irishmen, suborned by bargain with a Saxon Government, go forth to save it in the Division Lobby.
"Punch, or the London Charivari, May 27, 1914" by Various
Several witnesses were suborned to seize upon some words in his discourses against Moses.
"The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 03" by Various
For this purpose, he endeavoured to suborn a poet who lived under his patronage.
"The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor" by Various
This looks to me like subornation of perjury.
"Frenzied Finance" by Thomas W. Lawson
The belief was that Parker was suborned to refuse longer to publish it.
"Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No 3, September 1863" by Various
The testimony of their own witnesses convicted them of subornation of perjury to destroy Smith.
"Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 5 of 8" by Various
Councillors, I think more highly of your intelligence than to imagine that you are to be suborned by such clumsy intriguing as this.
"The Traitors" by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim
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In news:

New York Press, like so many other publications, has suborned its own professed principles.
observer.com
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Related words