redargue, v. Now Sc.
(rɛˈdɑːgjuː)
[ad. F. rédarguer (14th c. in Littré), or L. redarguĕre to disprove, etc., f. re(d)- re- + arguĕre to argue.]
† 1. trans. To blame, reprove (a person or persons, an action, etc.). Also const. of, for. Obs.
| c 1400 Apol. Loll. 6 Poule aȝenstod him in þe face, & redarguid him, for he was reprouable. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health lxviii. 19 b, A power of the soule the whiche doth reluct agaynst vyces and synne, and redargueth or reprehendeth synne. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 33 Quhen he had pansit in this maner wp and doun and ressonit [MS. I, redarguit] himself for his slouthfulness. 1648 Lightfoot Horæ Hebr. (1684) II. 604 The Holy Spirit..could not but reprove and redargue the world of Sin. 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iii. 136 Basil..severely redargues Origen's allegoric mode of Theologising. |
2. To confute (a person) by argument. (In later use only Sc.; cf. next sense.)
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 79 Rekke we not of argumentis þat sophistis maken, þat we ben redargued grantynge þat we denyen. 1632 B. Jonson Magn. Lady iii. iv, Sir, I'll redargue you By disputation. 1671 [R. MacWard] True Nonconf. 3 It is your part, by this your conference more solidly to redargue him. 1704 Earl of Cromarty in Lond. Gaz. No. 4037/5 That we may redargue one another with Kindness and Civility. 1877 Blackie Wise Men 327 All these Love's vouchers stand, beyond the craft Of sophist to redargue. |
3. To refute or disprove (an argument, statement, etc.). (Since c 1700 only Sc., chiefly Law.)
| 1627 Hakewill Apol. iii. §4 (1635) 310 Nathaniel Carpenter thus fully redargues that forgerie. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 68 The error which this point is profitable to confute and redargue is twofold. 1679 Prot. Conformist 3 It has been so fully and clearly redargued, that I need not meddle with it. 1751 M{supc}Douall Inst. Laws Scot. I. 359 The presumption lies..that he has the drawer's effects, which he must redargue by the letter of advice. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. Introd. p. vi, The objections you mention, I humbly conceive are such as may be redargued, if not entirely removed. 1847 Hamilton Let. to De Morgan 4, I may..redargue your claim and statements, as the result of a mistake. 1885 Law Rep. 10 App. Cases 383 note, This fact afforded a degree of real evidence which no parole testimony could redargue. |
† b. To argue (a case) in opposition to another person. Obs. rare.
| a 1633 W. Ames Saint's Secur. (1652) 8 When Job's three Friends had spent much time in arguing and redarguing the case with Job, Elihu..speaketh after this manner. |
4. absol. or intr. To reprove or refute; to employ argument for the purpose of refuting.
| 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 55 Men love truth when it shines, but not when it redargues. 1644 Bulwer Chirol. 170 The bowing downe of the Fore-Finger for a checke of silence, and to redargue, is an action often found in the Hands of men. |
Hence reˈdarguing vbl. n.
| 1627–77 Feltham Resolves ii. xii. 184 It was the redarguing of his misguided friends..that moved him. 1656 Stanley Hist. Philos. iv. (1701) 147/1 A great lover of Contention, and therefore called Ελέγξινος from redarguing. |