prevarication
(prɪværɪˈkeɪʃən)
Also 7 præ-.
[= F. prévarication (12th c. in Littré), ad. L. prævāricātiōn-em, n. of action f. prævāricārī to prevaricate.
1601 Holland Pliny xviii. xix. i. 579 The ploughman, unlesse he bend and stoupe forward..must..leave much undone as it ought to be; a fault which in Latine we call Prevarication: and this tearme appropriate unto Husbandrie, is borrowed from thence by Lawyers.]
† 1. Divergence from the right course, method, or mode of action. a. Deviation from rectitude; violation of moral law; transgression, trespass. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Tim. ii. 14 Forsoth the womman was disceyued in feith, in preuaricacioun [gloss or brekyng of the lawe]. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. (1892) 45 He was right couenable by cause of the curyng, the whiche by manere was semblable to the preuaricacion, by lyk and contrarye. 1528 Roy Rede me (Arb.) 119 Of all oure detestacions And sinfull prevaricacions Thou alone arte the defender. 1665 Wither Lord's Prayer 122 It was thereby subject to many infirmities, and inclinable to all manner of Prevarications. 1701 tr. Le Clerc's Prim. Fathers (1702) 337 That all Men do not die through the Death and Prevarication of Adam. |
† b. Departure from a rule, principle, or normal state; perversion or violation of a law, etc.; deviation from truth or correctness, error; breach of rule, irregularity. Obs.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 258 So is her body a necessary being, a first and not a second intention of Nature, her proper and absolute worke not her error or preuarication. 1633 Prynne Histrio-Mastix i. vi. xii. 533 b, On Holi-dayes..men every where runne to the Ale-house, to Playes, to Enterludes, and dances, to the very derision of Gods Name, and the prevarication of the day. 1671 Howe Vanity Man Wks. 1862 I. 430 It is equally a prevarication from true manhood to be moved with everything and with nothing. 1674 Owen Holy Spirit Wks. 1852 III. 146 It is no small prevarication in some Christians to give countenance to so putid a fiction. |
† c. lit. Divergence from a straight line or course.
| [1601: see etymology above.] 1672 Newton in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 343 How much those errors..are increased or diminished, is to be estimated by the prevarication of the rays. |
† 2. Deviation from duty; violation of trust; corrupt action, esp. in a court of law. Obs.
| 1541 Paynel Catiline vii. 11 b, Catiline (the whiche a fewe dayes before was by preuarication and falsehod quite of petye theft). 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 180 Sen our Hely, in his office, Is lyke in Preuaricatioun, He sall ressaif sic lyke Justice, Mak he nocht reformatioun. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 115 The Inhabitants of Pleskou..charg'd Puskin with prevarication in his Employment, and perfidiousness towards his Prince. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Prevarication is also used for a secret abuse committed in the exercise of a public office, or of a commission given by a private person. [Hence in Webster 1828, etc.] |
† b. Law. See prevaricate v. 3. Obs.
| 1552 Huloet, Preuarication..is a collusion done in lawe,..wherby the one partye suffereth the other to obtayne in suite, to the entent to hurte or endomage some other. 1628 Sir R. Le Grys tr. Barclay's Argenis 256 If it shall appeare, that they haue forfeited their Faith, or wronged their Client by preuarication. 1710 J. Harris Lex. Techn. II, Prevarication, in the Civil Law, is where an Informer colludes with the Defendant, and so makes only a feigned Prosecution. |
3. Avoidance of plain dealing or straightforward statement of the truth; evasion, quibbling, shuffling, equivocation, double-dealing, deception.
| a 1655 Vines Lord's Supp. (1677) 413, I..shall clearly without any fraud or prevarication declare my opinion. 1673 Marvell Reh. Transp. II. 388 When Doctor Heylin's Divinity shall go for orthodox, or his Prævarications pass for History, you may then..be reputed a Classical Author. 1797 Burke Regic. Peace iii. Wks. VIII. 304 Fraud and prevarication are servile vices. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1871) III. v. 337 Hume..was a man..utterly incapable of falsehood, or of prevarication of any kind. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter (1863) 132 Mr. Justice Best said he had a great mind to commit the witness for prevarication. |