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To struggle or exert one's self to obtain or retain possession of, or to defend. You sit above, and see vain men below Contend for what you only can bestow. Dryden.

To strive earnestly to hold or maintain; to struggle to defend; as, the troops contested every inch of ground.

Fates with traitors do contrive. Shak. Thou hast contrived against th very life Of the defendant. Shak.

To prove or find guilty of an offense or crime charged; to pronounce guilty, as by legal decision, or by one's conscience. He [Baxter] . . . had been convicted by a jury. Macaulay. They which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one. John viii. 9.

The act of convicting; the act of proving, finding, or adjudging, guilty of an offense. The greater certainty of conviction and the greater certainty of punishment. Hallam.

An advocate or defender of convocation.

The act of attending for defense; the state of being so attended; protection; escort. To obtain the convoy of a man-of-war. Macaulay.

al infections. Milton. Corporal punishment (law), punishment applied to the body of the offender, including the death penalty, whipping, and imprisonment.

rt; also, collectively, the legal advocates united in the management of a case; as, the defendant has able counsel. The King found his counsel as refractory as his judges. Macaulay.

r principle." I. Taylor. Counter approach (Fort.), a trench or work pushed forward from defensive works to meet the approaches of besiegers. See Approach. -- Counter bond (Law), in old practice, a bond to secure one who has given bond for another. -- Counter brace. See Counter brace, in Vocabulary. -- Counter deed (…

f military or naval officers, for the trial of one belonging to the army or navy, or of offenses against military or naval law.

One who subscribed and defended the "Solemn League and Covenant." See Covenant.

To shelter, as from evil or danger; to protect; to defend; as, the cavalry covered the retreat. His calm and blameless life Does with substantial blessedness abound, And the soft wings of peace cover him round. Cowley.

A place that covers and protects; a shelter; a defense. A tabernacle . . . for a covert from storm. Is. iv. 6. The highwayman has darted from his covered by the wayside. Prescott.

Covering; shelter; defence; hiding. Protected by walls or other like coverture. Woodward. Beatrice, who even now Is couched in the woodbine coverture. Shak.

arnestly the best gifts. 1. Cor. xxii. 31. If it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul alive. Shak.

The peculiar fruit of fennel, carrott, parsnip, and the like, consisting of a pair of carpels pendent from a supporting axis.

violation of human law, in distinction from a misdemeanor or trespass, or other slight offense. Hence, also, any aggravated offense against morality or the public welfare; any outrage or great wrong. "To part error from crime." Tennyson.

A bill brought by a defendant, in an equity or chancery suit, against the plaintiff, respecting the matter in question in that suit. Bouvier.

Harsh and offensive, as a color; tawdry or in bad taste, as a combination of colors, or any design or work of art.