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; to set on; to provoke; to incite; -- used chiefly with reference to evil actions; as to instigate one to a crime. He hath only instigated his blackest agents to the very extent of their malignity. Bp. Warburton.

To instigate or encourage by aid or countenance; -- used in a bad sense of persons and acts; as, to abet an ill-doer; to abet one in his wicked courses; to abet vice; to abet an insurrection. "The whole tribe abets the villany." South. Would not the fool abet the stealth, Who rashly thus exposed his wealth Gay.…

To urge on; to instigate; to incite Adam and Eve he egged to ill. Piers Plowman. [She] did egg him on to tell How fair she was. Warner.

hieved; anything done or that comes to pass; an act; an event; a circumstance. What might instigate him to this devilish fact, I am not able to conjecture. Evelyn. He who most excels in fact of arms. Milton.

rse to life or activity; to cherish and promote by excitements; to encourage; to abet; to instigate; -- used often in a bad sense; as, to foment ill humors. Locke. But quench the choler you foment in vain. Dryden. Exciting and fomenting a religious rebellion. Southey.

One who foments; one who encourages or instigates; as, a fomenter of sedition.

One who instigates or incites.

The act of instigating, or the state of being instigated; incitement; esp. to evil or wickedness. The baseness and villainy that . . . the instigation of the devil could bring the sons of men to. South.

One who instigates or incites. Burke.

One who makes mischief; one who excites or instigates quarrels or enmity.

One who, or that which, excites, instigates, or causes movement, change, etc.; as, movers of sedition. These most poisonous compounds, Which are the movers of a languishing death. Shak.

To assist or induce the action of; to move to action; to instigate; to incite. God first . . . prompted on the infirmities of the infant world by temporal prosperity. Jer. Taylor.

ght, or away; to put in its proper place; as, put up that letter. Shak. (h) To incite; to instigate; -- followed by to; as, he put the lad up to mischief. (i) To raise; to erect; to build; as, to put up a tent, or a house. (j) To lodge; to entertain; as, to put up travelers. -- To put up a job, to arrange a plot. [Sla…

to set off one man's services against another's. -- To set on or upon. (a) To incite; to instigate. "Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this." Shak. (b) To employ, as in a task. " Set on thy wife to observe." Shak. (c) To fix upon; to attach strongly to; as, to set one's heart or affections on some object. See def…

ourage to action, or to a more vigorous pursuit of an object; to incite; to stimulate; to instigate; to impel; to drive. Love will not be spurred to what it loathes. Shak.

To incite to action; to arouse; to instigate; to prompt; to excite. "To stir men to devotion." Chaucer. An Ate, stirring him to blood and strife. Shak. And for her sake some mutiny will stir. Dryden.

procure privately, or by collusion; to procure by indirect means; to incite secretly; to instigate. Thou art suborned against his honor. Shak. Those who by despair suborn their death. Dryden.

To endeavor to persuade; to induce; to invite; to incite; to provoke; to instigate. Tempt not the brave and needy to despair. Dryden. Nor tempt the wrath of heaven's avenging Sire. Pope.

nst Cæsar, I have not slept. Shak. To whet on, To whet forward, to urge on or forward; to instigate. Shak.