money or any other valuable consideration given or promised with a view to corrupting the behavior of a person, especially in that person's performance as an athlete, public official, etc.: The motorist offered the arresting officer a bribe to let him go.
2.
anything given or serving to persuade or induce: The children were given candy as a bribe to be good.
verb (used with object)
3.
to give or promise a bribe to: They bribed the reporter to forget about what he had seen.
4.
to influence or corrupt by a bribe: The judge was too honest to be bribed.
:10
:09
:08
:07
:06
:05
:04
:03
:02
:01
Bribeis one of our favorite verbs.
So is hornswoggle. Does it mean:
So is subtilize. Does it mean:
So is bowdlerise. Does it mean:
to flee; abscond:
to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.
to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.
to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.
to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.
to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.
late 14c., "thing stolen," from O.Fr. bribe "bit, piece, hunk; morsel of bread given to beggars" (14c.), from briber, brimber "to beg," a general Romanic word (Gamillscheg marks it as Rotwelsch, i.e. "thieves' jargon"), of uncertain origin. Shift of meaning to "gift given to influence corruptly" is first