prosecute

Verb

prosecute (third-person singular simple present prosecutes, present participle prosecuting, simple past and past participle prosecuted)

1. (transitive) To start criminal proceedings against.
   • to prosecute a man for trespass, or for a riot
   • To acquit themſelves and proſecute their foes1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 56, line 898
2. (transitive) To charge, try.
   • The Vigilante is prosecuted in Federal Court under a lynch bill and winds up in a Federal Nut House specially designed for the containment of ghosts […]1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 8
3. To seek to obtain by legal process.
   • to prosecute a right or a claim in a court of law
4. (transitive) To pursue something to the end.
   • to prosecute a scheme, hope, or an investigation
   • I am beloved of beauteous Hermia; / Why should not I, then, prosecute my right?c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First...