suborned

Verb

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

1. (also, figuratively, transitive) To induce (someone) to commit an unlawful or malicious act, especially in a corrupt manner.
   • Till thou to ſpit the venome of thy ſpite, / Subornedſt Cupid how he ſoone might ſlay me, / Abandoning his bowe and arrowes quite, / You laid his priuie complot to betray me; […]1600, Samuel Nicholson, “Sic incipit Stultorum tragicomedia”, in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, Acolastus His After-witte (1600.): A Poem by Samuel Nicholson, […], Manchester: […] [Charles E....

   Synonyms:

   debauch, lead astray, seduce, adulterate, corrupt, demoralize, detort, file, immoralize, pervert

   1. (also, figuratively, specifically, transitive, criminal law) To induce (someone, such as a witness) to commit perjury, for example by making a false accusation or giving false evidence.
      • [Y]ou shall finde their tongues chayned to another mans trencher, and as it were, Knights of the Post, suborned to say, sweare and stare the uttermost they can, as those that passe not what they say, nor with what face they say it, so they say no truth.1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […]...
2. (transitive) To achieve (some result; specifically, perjury) in a corrupt manner.
   • [U]pon ſingle Perjuries ſuborned by themſelves they condemned Men unheard, and ſold their Eſtates vvithout ſuffering them to ſpeak for themſelves— […]1659, Samuel Butler, “Two Speeches Made in the Rump-Parliament, when It was Restor’d by the Officers of the Army in the Year 1659”, in R[obert] Thyer, editor, The Genuine Remains in Verse and Prose...
3. (archaic, transitive) To procure or provide (something) secretly and often in a dishonest manner.
   • In a golden bowl / She then suborn'd a potion, in her soul / Deform'd things thinking; for amidst the wine / She mix'd her man-transforming medicine; […]1614–1615, Homer, “The Tenth Book of Homer’s Odysseys”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615...
4. (archaic, transitive) To make use of (something), especially for corrupt or dishonest reasons.
   • Nor is he onely content to ſuborne Divine Juſtice in his cenſure of vvhat is paſt, but he aſſumes the perſon of Chriſt himſelf to prognoſticate over us vvhat he vviſhes vvould come.1649, J[ohn] Milton, “Vpon the Armies Surprisall of the King at Holmeby”, in ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC, page 210
5. (obsolete, transitive) To aid, assist, or support (something).
   • And fell much wood, that all night we may keep / Plenty of fires, even till the light bring forth the lovely morn; / And let their brightness glaze the skies, that night may not suborn / The Greeks' escape, […][1611?], Homer, “Book VIII”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […]...

See all 8 meanings of suborn