Search the Dictionary

a confession of guilt by a prisoner charged with treason or felony, together with an accusation of his accomplish and a giving evidence against them in order to obtain his own pardon. The term is no longer in use; it corresponded to what is now known as turning king's (or queen's) evidence in England, and state's evide…

Affected by shame; abashed or confused by guilt, or a conviction or consciousness of some wrong action or impropriety. "I am ashamed to beg." Wyclif. All that forsake thee shall be ashamed. Jer. xvii. 13. I began to be ashamed of sitting idle. Johnson. Enough to make us ashamed of our species. Macaulay. An ashamed pers…

To set free from guilt; to absolve. [Archaic] Acquitted and assoiled from the guilt. Dr. H. More. Many persons think themselves fairly assoiled, because they are . . . not of scandalous lives. Jer. Taylor.

To make satisfaction for; to expiate. Or each atone his guilty love with life. Pope.

f sin made by the obedience, personal suffering, and death of Christ. When a man has been guilty of any vice, the best atonement be can make for it is, to warn others. Spectator. The Phocians behaved with, so much gallantry, that they were thought to have made a sufficient atonement for their former offense. Potter.…

To find guilty; to convict; -- said esp. of a jury on trial for giving a false verdict. [Obs.] Upon sufficient proof attainted of some open act by men of his own condition. Blackstone.

y laid upon a delinquent for offending against a ban; as, a mulct paid to a bishop by one guilty of sacrilege or other crimes. Ban of the empire (German Hist.), an imperial interdict by which political rights and privileges, as those of a prince, city, or district, were taken away.

hing to cover up or conceal one's thoughts or actions; open to view; exposed. Bare in thy guilt, how foul must thou appear ! Milton.

One guilty of barratry.

in. [Obs.] Some think to bear it by speaking a great word. Bacon. She was . . . found not guilty, through bearing of friends and bribing of the judge. Latimer.

A process issued by a presiding judge or by a court against a person guilty of some contempt, or indicted for some crime; -- so called in distinction from a justice's warrant.

One who is guilty of bigamy. Ayliffe.

Guilty of bigamy; involving bigamy; as, a bigamous marriage.

of a legislature which inflicts a punishment less than death upon persons supposed to be guilty of treason or felony, without any conviction in the ordinary course of judicial proceedings. Bouvier. Wharton. -- Bill of parcels, an account given by the seller to the buyer of the several articles purchased, with the pri…

Free from blame; without fault; innocent; guiltless; -- sometimes followed by of. A bishop then must be blameless. 1 Tim. iii. 2. Blameless still of arts that polish to deprave. Mallet. We will be blameless of this thine oath. Josh. ii. 17.

sing in a blanket. That affair of the blanketing happened to thee for the fault thou wast guilty of. Smollett.

One who sheds blood; a cruel, bloodthirsty man; one guilty of bloodshed; a murderer. [Obs.] Shak.

To stain with infamy; to disgrace. Blot not thy innocence with guiltless blood. Rowe.

One guilty of buggery or unnatural vice; a sodomite.

One guilty of the crime of burglary. Burglar alarm, a device for giving alarm if a door or window is opened from without.