▪ I. bribe, n.
(braɪb)
Also 5–6 brybe.
[Bribe n. and vb., and brybour, appear together in Chaucer and his contemporaries: their previous history is obscure. OF. had bribe in sense of ‘piece of bread, frustum panis’, esp. ‘a peece, lumpe, or cantill of bread giuen vnto a beggar’ (Cotgr.); the same senses occur with med.L. briba: see Du Cange. Cf. Walloon brib alms, Sp. briba mendicancy, It. birba vagabond's trade; also OF. briber, brimber to beg (intr.), be a mendicant, Walloon briber, Sp. bribar to lead a vagabond life, be a strolling beggar, It. birbare ‘to play the sly knave’ (Florio); also OF. bribeur, brimbeur mendicant, strolling beggar, with Sp. bribon, It. birbone, birbante vagrant, vagabond, and the ME. bribour, briber sense 1; also OF. briberie, brimberie, Rouchi briberie, Walloon bribreie mendicancy. The ulterior history is quite unknown; if the sense of OF. bribe is the original, the order of development would appear to have been ‘piece of bread’, ‘alms’, ‘living upon alms’, ‘professional begging’. Hence, app. from practical association, the English sense ‘to steal, plunder’. The further history in English is also involved, but appears to be somewhat thus: in bribe n. the early sense of ‘theft, plunder, spoil’, appears to have been transferred to the ‘black mail’ or ‘baksheesh’ exacted by governors and judges who abused their positions, and thus to gifts received or given for corrupt purposes, whence the later sense of the vb. The transition is best seen in the agent-noun briber, where we have the series, ‘beggar’, ‘vagabond’, ‘thief’, ‘robber’, ‘extortioner’, ‘exactor of black mail’, and ‘receiver of baksheesh’ (the Baconian sense). The sudden and startling change from the Baconian ‘briber’, who received douceurs, to the modern ‘briber’ who gives them, can be explained only by taking the latter as a separate derivative of the verb in its latest sense.]
† 1. A thing stolen or robbed; theft, robbery; spoil, plunder. Obs. (The Chaucer quotation is doubtful: if the n. is right, it might perh. have the sense of ‘an alms’, as in OF.)
| c 1386 Chaucer Friar's T. 78 (Harl. MS.) Feyning a cause for he wolde han a bribe [Petw. MS. wold haue a brybe; 5 texts read he wolde brybe]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 50 Brybery or brybe, manticulum. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) II. 85 Theyr howsys stuffed with brybes abhomyn[a]bly. |
2. ‘A reward given to pervert the judgment or corrupt the conduct’ (J.). a. The earlier sense probably regarded it as a consideration extorted, exacted, or taken by an official, a judge, etc.; i.e. as the act of the receiver: cf. briber.
| 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. xl. 12 All brybes [1611 briberie] and vnrighteousnes shalbe put awaye, but faithfulnes and trueth shal endure for euer. 1580 Baret Alv. B 1227 Buying and selling of iustice for bribes. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iv. iii. 3 You haue condemn'd, and noted Lucius Pella For taking Bribes heere of the Sardians. 1611 Bible 1 Sam. viii. 3 His sonnes..tooke bribes, and peruerted iudgement. |
b. But it is now applied to a consideration voluntarily offered to corrupt a person and induce him to act in the interest of the giver, e.g. a consideration given to a voter to procure his vote.
| 1555 Bradforth in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xlv. 130 Who they myght make their frend with brybes. 1570 Levins Manip. 113 A Bribe, largitio. 1607 Shakes. Cor. i. ix. 38, I..cannot make my heart consent to take A Bribe. 1667 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 340 His rise hath been his giving of large bribes. 1718 Pope Iliad i. 40 Prayers, and tears, and bribes shall plead in vain. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. 115 The infamous bribe with which Julian had purchased the empire. 1839 Thirlwall Greece xi. 45 Duties..which belong to the judicial character, of rejecting bribes, hearing impartially, and deciding faithfully. 1880 M{supc}Carthy Own Times IV. lvi. 218 Before long surely it will be accounted as base to give as to take a bribe. |
† 3. (perh.) Rascally or execrable behaviour; clamour. Cf. briber 1 b, quot. a 1400. Obs.
| a 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 306 Quhen all this brybe & boist is quite ouir blawin. |
4. Comb., as bribe-broker, bribe-brokerage, bribe-monger; bribe-free, bribe-worthy adjs.; bribe-service, a service done for a bribe. Also bribe-taker, -taking.
| 1789 Burke Imp. W. Hastings Wks. XIV. 236 Is it in the hands of Mr. Hastings's wicked *bribe-brokers. |
| 1632 Brome Novella i. ii. Wks. 1873 I. 116 Dos he appeare *bribe-free? Is he the only officer uncorrupted? |
| a 1593 H. Smith Wks. (1866–7) I. 87 He would never speak to usurers and *bribe-mongers. |
| 1788 Burke Imp. W. Hastings Wks. XIII. 396, I charge him with not having done that *bribe-service, which fidelity even in iniquity requires. |
| 1731 Arbuthnot Epit. Francis Chartres, Without *bribe-worthy service, he acquired, or more properly created, a ministerial estate. 1788 Burke Imp. W. Hastings Wks. XIII. 360 To secure them against bribes by taking from the power of bribe-worthy service. |
▪ II. bribe, v.
(braɪb)
Also 4–6 brybe, 5 brybyn, 6 brybbe.
[See under the n.]
† 1. trans. To take dishonestly; to purloin; to steal, rob; to obtain by abuse of trust, or by extortion; to extort. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Cook's T. 53 For ther is no thef withowten a lowke, That helpeth him to wasten and to sowke Of that he brybe [v.r. bribe] kan, or borwe may. 1401 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 40 He chiterith and he bribith All that he may gete. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 50/2 Brybyn, manticulo, latrocinor. 1494 Fabyan vii. 353 A parte was brought vnto y⊇ lordes, but y⊇ more part was stolen and brybed. 1538 Bale Johan Baptiste in Harl. Misc. I. 106 [Publican says] By me, from hens fourth, nought from the poore shall be brybed. 1552 Huloet, Polle, brybe, or extort. 1561 J. Awdelay Frat. Vacab. 13 A licoryce knave that will swill his maisters drink and brybe his meate. 1643 Prynne Power Parl. App. 30 Great taxes and summes of money..spent vainly and riotously, and bribed out of the Kings Coffers. |
† b. absol. To steal, extort, or purloin. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Friar's T. 78 This Somnour euere waityng on his pray ffor to somne an old wydwe a Ribibe ffeynynge a cause for he wolde brybe. c 1550 Hye way Spyttel Ho. 283 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 37 They must beg, or els go brybe, and steale. |
2. To influence corruptly, by a reward or consideration, the action of (a person); to pervert the judgement or corrupt the conduct by a gift. Const. with a consideration, to an action, to do a thing.
| 1528 Roy Rede me (Arb.) 54 They brybe hym..for to be favoured. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. ii. 145 Hark, how Ile bribe you..Ang. How? bribe me? Isa. I, with such gifts that heauen shall share with you. 1678 N. Wanley Wonders v. ii. §80. 472/2 He bribed the Bishop of Rome to the empoysoning of his brother Zemes. 1681 Trial S. Colledge 132 Seek an occasion to tell him they were bribed off, and were forsworn. 1789 Bentham Princ. Legisl. xviii. §27 note, To bribe a trustee..is..to suborn him to be guilty of a breach or an abuse of trust. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) III. vi. ii. 403 They endeavoured to bribe them with enormous pay to enter into their service. 1878 Morley Diderot II. 23 The judges were bribed. |
b. absol. To use or apply bribes; to practise bribery.
| 1768 Johnson in Goldsm. Good-n. Man Prol. 26 The bard may supplicate, but cannot bribe. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 158 He fawned, bullied, and bribed indefatigably. |
3. trans. To purchase or obtain by bribery. arch.
| 1718 Pope Iliad i. 284 And bribe thy friendship with a boundless store. 1733 Swift On Poetry Wks. IV. i. 190 To bribe the judge's vote. 1749 Smollett Regicide i. vii. (1777) 22 Not thrones and diadems shall bribe My approbation! 1873 [see bribed]. |
4. fig. To gain over by some influence.
| 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 171 With these Christall beads heauen shall be brib'd To doe him Iustice, and reuenge on you. c 1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 33 A flattering sleepe Bribes them to rest. 1665 Howard Ind. Queen iv. i, Your greater Merits bribe her to your side. 1869 Buckle Civilis. III. v. 371 The memory of which is almost enough so to bribe the judgment. |