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To cause to violate an oath or a vow; to cause to make oath knowingly to what is untrue; to make guilty of perjury; to forswear; to corrupt; -- often used reflexively; as, he perjured himself. Want will perjure The ne'er-touched vestal. Shak.

To pursue in a manner to injure, grieve, or afflict; to beset with cruelty or malignity; to harass; especially, to afflict, harass, punish, or put to death, for adherence to a particular religious creed or mode of worship. Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. M…

perseverance, mercy, lowliness." Shak. Whose constant perseverance overcame Whate'er his cruel malice could invent. Milton.

a, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals. Haeckel. True corms, composed of united personæ . . . usually arise by gemmation, . . . yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinct persons. Encyc. Brit. Artificial, or Fictitious, person (Law), a corpora…

ng, or the state of being perverted; a turning from truth or right; a diverting from the true intent or object; a change to something worse; a turning or applying to a wrong end or use. "Violations and perversions of the laws." Bacon.

The class of flowering plants including all which have true flowers with distinct floral organs; phanerogamia.

Having true flowers with with distinct floral organs; flowering.

nging to Anthus and allied genera, of the family Motacillidæ. They strongly resemble the true larks in habits, colors, and the great length of the hind claw. They are, therefore, often called titlarks, and pipit larks.

ving the arris defined by a line beyond which the rock is cut away, so as to give nearly true edges; -- said of squared stones that are otherwise quarry-faced.

called also ground thrushes, and Old World ant thrushes; but they are not related to the true thrushes.

used once by Shakespeare to designate plants in general, or anything that is planted. As true as steel, as plantage to the moon. Shak. (Troil. iii. sc. 2).

n Plays on their shining arms and burnished helmets. Addison. All fame is foreign but of true desert, Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart. Pope.

an excuse; an apology. "Necessity, the tyrant's plea." Milton. No plea must serve; 't is cruelty to spare. Denham.

Hence, the common people; the populace; --construed as a pl.

Side-fruited; -- said of those true mosses in which the pedicels or the capsules are from lateral archegonia; -- opposed to Ant: acrocarpous.

Any grallatorial bird allied to, or resembling, the true plovers, as the crab plover (Dromas ardeola); the American upland, plover (Bartramia longicauda); and other species of sandpipers.

te of heads; a list or register of heads or individuals. We are the greater poll, and in true fear They gave us our demands. Shak. The muster file, rotten and sound, upon my life, amounts not to fifteen thousand poll. Shak.

ny distinct subordinate parts, which, however, not being jointed to the petiole, are not true leaflets; -- said of leaves. Henslow.

Of or pertaining to a suborder (Pomeæ) of rosaceous plants, which includes the true thorn trees, the quinces, service berries, medlars, and loquats, as well as the apples, pears, crabs, etc.

Any species of Erethizon and related genera, native of America. They are related to the true porcupines, but have shorter spines, and are arboreal in their habits. The Canada porcupine (Erethizon dorsatus) is a well known species. Porcupine ant-eater (Zoöl.), the echidna. -- Porcupine crab (Zoöl.), a large spiny Japan…