BRIBE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Bribe

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/braɪb/ Listen

noun

Bribe n.

1.

A gift begged; a present. (Obs.)

2.

A price, reward, gift, or favor bestowed or promised with a view to prevent the judgment or corrupt the conduct of a judge, witness, voter, or other person in a position of trust. "Undue reward for anything against justice is a bribe."

3.

That which seduces; seduction; allurement.

verb

Bribe v. t. (past & past part. bribed; pres. part. bribing)

1.

To rob or steal. (Obs.)

2.

To give or promise a reward or consideration to (a judge, juror, legislator, voter, or other person in a position of trust) with a view to prevent the judgment or corrupt the conduct; to induce or influence by a bribe; to give a bribe to. "Neither is he worthy who bribes a man to vote against his conscience."

3.

To gain by a bribe; of induce as by a bribe.

Bribe v. i.

1.

To commit robbery or theft. (Obs.)

2.

To give a bribe to a person; to pervert the judgment or corrupt the action of a person in a position of trust, by some gift or promise. "An attempt to bribe, though unsuccessful, has been holden to be criminal, and the offender may be indicted." "The bard may supplicate, but cannot bribe."

See images of 'Bribe'

Etymology of 'Bribe'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Bribe" Quotes from Famous Books

... him as the attraction, challenge darling Lucia to mutual combat, in order to decide who should be the leader of all that was advanced and cultured in Riseholme society? Still following that ramification of this policy, should she bribe Georgie over to her own revolutionary camp, by promising him instruction from the Guru? Or following a less dashing line, should she take darling Lucia and Georgie into the charmed circle, and while retaining her own right of treasure trove, yet share it with ...

— Queen Lucia • E. F. Benson

... which was then given by Parliament to the land. It was grounded on very weighty reasons. The administration contended only for its continuance for a year, in order to have the merit of taking off the shilling in the pound immediately before the elections; and thus to bribe the freeholders of England ...

— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. I. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... with just hereditary sway; There, deaf for ever to the martial strife, Enjoy the dear prerogative of life. Life is not to be bought with heaps of gold. Not all Apollo's Pythian treasures hold, Or Troy once held, in peace and pride of sway, Can bribe the poor possession of a day! Lost herds and treasures we by arms regain, And steeds unrivall'd on the dusty plain: But from our lips the vital spirit fled, Returns no more to wake the silent dead. My fates long since by Thetis were disclosed, And each ...

— The Iliad of Homer • Homer

... I felt convinced, of accepting my watch as a bribe, and failing afterward to come up to her bargain. Yet, dear as it was to me from association of ideas, I should not have weighed it an instant against the merest probability of escape. I knew if I could gain an hour upon ...

— Miriam Monfort - A Novel • Catherine A. Warfield

... finished breakfast first generally managed to make off with the dingy. The others were then at liberty to view him in the distance, in midstream, lying on his back in the bottom of the boat; and it was almost more than we could stand. The only way to bring him back was to bribe the boy into saying that he wanted to go across to the village for bacon or black lead or sardines. Thus even the boy had ...

— My Lady Nicotine - A Study in Smoke • J. M. Barrie

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