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tyle; also, by extension, any artless and easily flowing description, either in poetry or prose, of simple, rustic life, of pastoral scenes, and the like. [Written also idyll.] Wordsworth's solemn-thoughted idyl. Mrs. Browning. His [Goldsmith's] lovely idyl of the Vicar's home. F. Harrison.

To institute and prosecute a suit against, in court; to sue or prosecute at law; hence, to accuse; to impeach.

One who prosecutes or sues another.

The formal statement of an offense, as framed by the prosecuting authority of the State, and found by the grand jury.

A proceeding in the nature of a prosecution for some offens against the government, instituted and prosecuted, really or nominally, by some authorized public officer on behalt of the government. It differs from an indictment in criminal cases chiefly in not being based on the finding of a grand juri. See Indictment.…

one who habitually gives information of the violation of penal statutes, with a view to a prosecution therefor. Bouvier. Wharton.

Proseeding from, pertaining to, or characterized by, genius or ingenuity; of curious design, structure, or mechanism; as, an ingenious model, or machine; an ingenious scheme, contrivance, etc. Thus men go wrong with an ingenious skill. Cowper.

To become weary; to lose spirit. They . . . fail, and jade, and tire in the prosecution. South.

A joining of causes of action or defense in civil suits or criminal prosecutions.

Testament; the Book of Judges. Judge Advocate (Mil. & Nav.), a person appointed to act as prosecutor at a court-martial; he acts as the representative of the government, as the responsible adviser of the court, and also, to a certain extent, as counsel for the accused, when he has no other counsel. -- Judge-Advocate G…

or expostulate with the parents, but never attempt to kidnap their children, and to make proselytes of them. Whately.

n. "A pair of crafty knaves." Shak. In defiance of demonstration, knaves will continue to proselyte fools. Ames.

To exert one's powers of mind in the prosecution of any design; to strive; to take pains.

ment; to interlard. Shak. Let no alien Sedley interpose To lard with wit thy hungry Epsom prose. Dryden.

aw, to seek a settlement of any matter by bringing it before the courts of law; to sue or prosecute some one. -- To take, or have, the law of, to bring the law to bear upon; as, to take the law of one's neighbor. Addison. -- Wager of law. See under Wager.

ioner of law; one whose profession is to conduct lawsuits for clients, or to advise as to prosecution or defence of lawsuits, or as to legal rights and obligations in other matters. It is a general term, comprehending attorneys, counselors, solicitors, barristers, sergeants, and advocates.

Leprose. -- Lep"rous*ly, adv. -- Lep"rous*ness, n.

To make the subject of a lawsuit; to contest in law; to prosecute or defend by pleadings, exhibition of evidence, and judicial debate in a court; as, to litigate a cause.

sense, the contrivances by which the crises and conclusion of a fictitious narrative, in prose or verse, are effected. The machinery, madam, is a term invented by the critics, to signify that part which the deities, angels, or demons, are made to act in a poem. Pope.

ated. T. Warton. Macaulay. Maiden assize (Eng. Law), an assize which there is no criminal prosecution; an assize which is unpolluted with blood. It was usual, at such an assize, for the sheriff to present the judge with a pair of white gloves. Smart. -- Maiden name, the surname of a woman before her marriage. -- Maid…