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inquiry; search; examination; inspection; investigation. As I could learn through earnest inquisition. Latimer. Let not search and inquisition quail To bring again these foolish runaways. Shak.

Relating to inquiry or inquisition; inquisitorial; also, of or pertaining to, or characteristic of, the Inquisition. All the inquisitional rigor . . . executed upon books. Milton.

Inquisitional.

A judgment of the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal condemning or acquitting persons accused of religious offenses.

s, with a taste for carrion, who batten on the hideous facts in history, -- persecutions, inquisitions. Emerson.

Fig.: To fix a mark of infamy, or a stigma, upon. The Inquisition branded its victims with infamy. Prescott. There were the enormities, branded and condemned by the first and most natural verdict of common humanity. South.

t; the act of willfully causing unnecessary pain. Cruelties worthy of the dungeons of the Inquisition. Macualay.

d effort; careful; painstaking; not careless or negligent. The judges shall make diligent inquisition. Deut. xix. 18.

ermas day. -- Holy Land, Palestine, the birthplace of Christianity. -- Holy office, the Inquisition. -- Holy of holies (Script.), the innermost apartment of the Jewish tabernacle or temple, where the ark was kept, and where no person entered, except the high priest once a year. -- Holy One. (a) The Supreme Being; -…

Capable of being inquired into; subject or liable to inquisition or inquest. Bacon.

A member of the Court of Inquisition.

Pertaining to inquisition; making rigorous and unfriendly inquiry; searching; as, inquisitorial power. "Illiberal and inquisitorial abuse." F. Blackburne. He conferred on it a kind of inquisitorial and censorious power even over the laity, and directed it to inquire into all matters of conscience. Hume.…

o search into; to inquire and examine into with care and accuracy; to find out by careful inquisition; as, to investigate the causes of natural phenomena.

setting forth the late conspiracy against the king's person. Evelyn. Holy office. Same as Inquisition, n., 3. -- Houses of office. Same as def. 7 above. Chaucer. -- Little office (R.C.Ch.), an office recited in honor of the Virgin Mary. -- Office bearer, an officer; one who has a specific office or duty to perform.…

tment laid before them, as, the presentment of a nuisance, a libel, or the like; also, an inquisition of office and indictment by a grand jury; an official accusation presented to a tribunal by the grand jury in an indictment, or the act of offering an indictment; also, the indictment itself.

oth, painted with flames, figures, etc., and worn by persons who had been examined by the Inquisition and were brought forth for punishment at the auto-da-fé.

alled Spanish or Portuguese Jews) descended from Jewish families driven from Spain by the Inquisition.