suborn, v.
(səˈbɔːn)
Also 6 subourne, Sc. suburn, 6–7 subborn, suborne.
[ad. L. subornāre, f. sub- sub- 25 + ornāre to equip, etc. Cf. F. suborner (13th c.), It. subornare, Sp. sobornar, Pg. subornar.]
1. trans. To bribe, induce, or procure (a person) by underhand or unlawful means to commit a misdeed. Usually const. to do a thing; also † to an act, † against a person or thing; when used absol. often = to draw away from allegiance, corrupt the loyalty of.
| 1534 Act 26 Hen. VIII, c. 4 §1 Kynsfolkes to suche offendours have resorted to the same Jurours, and have suborned them to aquyte dyvers murderers. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 71 This Katherine..being suborned therto eyther by the kinge or his brothers promises. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. ii. ii. 17 There must be subborned some craftie spie. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iv. 85 Thou hast subborn'd the Goldsmith to arrest mee. 1654 tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 121 Seeing that Amurath hath invaded the Kingdom of his Allie, surprized his Townes, suborned his Subjects. 1663 S. Patrick Parab. Pilgrim xxxvii. (1687) 491 He that hath thought there is a gain in friendship beside it self; may well be suborn'd against the same by the..offers of a greater gain. 1783 W. Thomson Watson's Philip III, v. 376 Different persons were suborned to cut off the duke by assassination. 1793 A. Murphy Tacitus (1811) I. p. xxxv, Freedmen were suborned against their patrons. 1852 Thackeray Esmond iii. xiii, Had she not..suborned servants, dismissed others, so that she might communicate with him? 1863 Kinglake Crimea I. 232 The President..saw that the man could be suborned. He admitted him into the plot, [etc.]. 1911 Act 1 & 2 Geo. V, c. 6 §7 Every person who..attempts to..suborn another person to commit an offence against this Act. |
| fig. 1604 T. Wright Passions ii. i. 49 Vehement passions..undermine the iudgement, and suborne it to give sentence in favour of them. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Introd., Wks. 1851 IV. 140 It is not reason..that..suborns the common credence of men to yeeld so easily. |
2. spec. To bribe or unlawfully procure (a person)
to make accusations or give evidence; to induce
to give false testimony or
to commit perjury. Also, to procure (evidence) by such unlawful means. (
Cf. subornation 2 b).
| 1557 N.T. (Geneva) Acts vi. 11 Then they suborned men, which sayd, We haue heard him speake blasphemous wordes. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Submitto, To suborne or priuily to sende accusers to appeache one. Ibid., Subijcere testes, to subourne false witnesses. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. v. i. 106 Y{supu} knowst not what thou speak'st, Or else thou art suborn'd against his honor In hatefull practise. 1639 J. Saltmarsh Policy 198 Wicked men suborne false witnesses when they are convicted. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 303 Upon single Perjuries suborned by themselves they condemned Men unheard. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 171 ¶9 A Witness, suborn'd by some of Mariamne's Enemies, who accused her to the King of a Design to poison him. 1736 Fielding Pasquin i. i. 9, I would as soon suborn an Evidence at an Assize, as a Vote at an Election. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scandal v. iii, I am so confounded, to find that Lady Sneerwell could be guilty of suborning Mr. Snake in this manner, to impose on us all. 1785 Reid Intell. Powers i. ii. 46 If it can be shown that he is suborned,..his testimony loses all its credit. 1864 Kingsley Rom. & Teut. v. (1875) 131 The Gothic courtiers..suborned branded scoundrels to swear away his life. 1874 Green Short Hist. ix. §5. 645 The arrest of Shaftesbury on a charge of suborning false witnesses to the Plot. 1877 Conder Basis Faith viii. 353 It is a kind of evidence which cannot be suborned. |
b. To procure the performance or execution of (a thing) by bribery or other corrupt means.
| 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. viii. 670 The letters which were written in the name of the Nabob,..were in fact suborned by the Governor-General. 1858 J. Martineau Stud. Christ. 84 The public murder which they have privately suborned. |
† 3. To prepare, provide, or procure,
esp. in a secret, stealthy, or underhand manner.
Obs.| 1540–1 Elyot Image Gov. 93 [89] Where they be not therto sufficient, they wyll suborne some false quarrell to make a commotion. 1579–80 North Plutarch, Lucullus (1595) 565 He beganne..to suborne the bands called Fimbrians, and to stirre them vp against Lucullus. 1615 Chapman Odyss. x. 422 In a golden boule She then subornd a potion. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 361 Since Reason not impossibly may meet Some specious object by the Foe subornd. 1676 Dryden State Innoc. v. i, And those who, by Despair, suborn their Death. 1700 ― Cymon & Iph. 552 Then entring unexpected will we seize Our destin'd Prey,..And hast'ning to the Seas suborn our Flight. a 1721 Prior Truth & Falseh. 33 Wks. 1907 II. 132 The Fraudful Dame,..False sighs suborns, and artful tears. |
† 4. To furnish, equip, adorn.
Obs.| 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 641/1 Evill thinges being decked and suborned with the gay attyre of goodly woordes. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xx. §3 Not to write at leasure that which men may read at leasure, but really to instruct and suborne action and active live. |
† 5. To give support to, aid, assist.
Obs.| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 610 This Capteine [Jack Cade] not only suborned by teachers, but also enforced by priuie Scholemaisters, assembled together a great company of tall personages. c 1611 Chapman Iliad viii. 114 Let their brightnesse glase the skies, that night may not suborne The Greekes escape. |
† 6. To introduce or bring to one's aid with a sinister motive.
Obs.| a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. i. ix. §1 (1622) 59 He [sc. Euripides] suborned, in his Tragœdie, the person of Sisyphus, to expresse all his vngodlinesse. 1649 Milton Eikon. xxvi. 210 Nor is he onely content to suborne Divine Justice in his censure of what is past, but he assumes the person of Christ himself to prognosticate..what he wishes would come. 1677 Let. in J. Smith Mem. Wool, etc. (1757) I. lix. 215 Some Western Clothiers finding, so early, and upon other Reasons than are now suborned, that Trade decaying. |
† 7. [
sub- 27.] To commission (another) in one's place.
Obs. rare.
| 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 335 After they vnderstode, that it was not possible for them to go vnto al places, whiche had nede of remedy, of necessitie they suborned others [orig. necessario summisisse alios]. |
Hence
suˈborning vbl. n. and ppl. a.| 1578 Whetstone 2nd Pt. Promos & Cass. ii. iv, Against Vsurie, brybrie, and barrating, Suborning, extorcion, and boulstring. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. L 2 b, Other superuising espialls to plie, follow, and spurre forward those suborning incensers. 1611 Cotgr., Subornation, a subornation, or suborning. 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. I. 72 The bribed Soldiers, and suborning Scribes, who by false Reports endeavoured to..destroy the Credit of that Resurrection. |