suborn

suborn

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin subōrnō, from ōrnō.

Pronunciation

• (rhotic) IPA^(key): /səˈbɔːɹn/
• (non-rhotic) IPA^(key): /səˈbɔːn/

  • Audio (RP)

    (file)

Verb

suborn (third-person singular simple present suborns, present participle suborning, simple past and past participle suborned)

1. (transitive) To induce to commit an unlawful or malicious act, or to commit perjury [from 16th c.]
   • 1819-1827, William Oldnall Russell, A Treatise on Crimes and Misdemeanors

     Lord Chief Justice Abbott , in delivering their to suborn opinion, observed, that the judges understood that such an assumption had been made in the question put to them.

2. (transitive) To procure privately, or by collusion; to incite secretly; to instigate.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene i]:

     Thou art suborned against his honour.

   • 1674 (date written), John Dryden, The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man: An Opera. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1677, OCLC 228727029, Act V, page 43:

     Behold of ev'ry age; ripe manhood ſee, / Decrepit years, and helpleſs infancy: / Thoſe who, by lingring ſickneſs, loſe their breath; / And thoſe who, by deſpair, ſuborn their death: […]

   • 1981, Donald Kagan, The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition:

     The informer Diocleides was hailed as savior of the city, crowned with a wreath, and taken in honor to the Prytaneum where he dined at public expense. In their excitement and gratitude the Athenians noted neither his attempt to suborn a bribe nor his delay in seeking public safety.

Derived terms

• subornation
• subornative
• suborner

Related terms

• ornament
• ornate
• adorn

Anagrams

• Bourns, Brouns, Burson, bourns, burons

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Catalan

Etymology

From subornar.

Noun

suborn m (plural suborns)

1. bribery
2. bribe

Further reading

• “suborn” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “suborn”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “suborn” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “suborn” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.