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Using language scurrilous, opprobrious, obscene, or profane; abusive. So foul-mouthed a witness never appeared in any cause. Addison.

The liberty of being sworn in courts, as a juror or witness; one of the ancient privileges of a freeman; free and common law; -- an obsolete expression signifying substantially the same as the American expression civil rights. Abbot.

To challenge or discredit the credibility of, as of a witness, or the validity of, as of commercial paper.

[Obs.] "A vast and imperious mind." Tilloison. Therefore, great lords, be, as your titles witness, Imperious. Shak.

incisive, high voice." G. Eliot. And her incisive smile accrediting That treason of false witness in my blush. Mrs. Browning.

ompetency or legal fitness; incapacity; disqualification, as of a person to be heard as a witness, or to act as a juror, or of a judge to try a cause.

ons; inadmissible; as, a person professedly wanting in religious belief is an incompetent witness in a court of law or equity; incompetent evidence. Richard III. had a resolution, out of hatred to his brethren, to disable their issues, upon false and incompetent pretexts, the one of attainder, the other of illegitimati…

irect evidence, evidence or testimony which is circumstantial or inferential, but without witness; -- opposed to direct evidence. -- Indirect tax, a tax, such as customs, excises, etc., exacted directly from the merchant, but paid indirectly by the consumer in the higher price demanded for the articles of merchandise.…

with infamy by conviction of a crime; as, at common law, an infamous person can not be a witness.

grace, which a convict incurs, and by which he is at common law rendered incompetent as a witness.

ned in a cause or in consequences; liable to be affected or prejudiced; as, an interested witness.

To question formally; to question; to examine by asking questions; as, to interrogate a witness. Wilt thou, uncalled, interrogate, Talker! the unreplying Fate Emerson.

under the law . . . But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Rom. iii. 19, 21.

alth, lessened. The objection lessens much, and comes to no more than this: there was one witness of no good reputation. Atterbury.

superior power; permission granted; leave; as, liberty given to a child to play, or to a witness to leave a court, and the like.

One who, by his death, bears witness to the truth of the gospel; one who is put to death for his religion; as, Stephen was the first Christian martyr. Chaucer. To be a martyr, signifies only to witness the truth of Christ; but the witnessing of the truth was then so generally attended with persecution, that martyrdom n…

A married woman; a wife. [Scot.] Several of the neighboring mistresses had assembled to witness the event of this memorable evening. Sir W. Scott.

Speech; language; testimony. That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. Matt. xviii. 16.

contracted before a duty qualified priest (or the bishop of the diocese) and at least two witnesses. The decree was issued Aug. 2, 1907, and took effect on Easter Apr. 19, 1908. The decree by its terms does not affect mixed marriages (those between Roman Catholics and persons of another faith) in Germany.…

en. Nuncupative will or testament, a will or testament made by word of mouth only, before witnesses, as by a soldier or seaman, and depending on oral testimony for proof. Blackstone.