Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Money or some other benefit given to a person in power, especially a public official, in an effort to cause the person to take a particular action.
- noun Something offered to induce another to do something.
- intransitive verb To give, offer, or promise a bribe to.
- intransitive verb To give, offer, or promise bribes.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To steal.
- To give or promise a reward or consideration to for acting contrary to desire or duty; induce to a certain course of action by the gift or offer of something of value; gain over or corrupt by a bribe.
- To steal.
- To practise bribery; give a bribe to a person.
- noun A gift begged; a present.
- noun A gift or gratuity bestowed for the purpose of influencing the action or conduct of the receiver; especially, money or any valuable consideration given or promised for the betrayal of a trust or the corrupt performance of an allotted duty, as to a fiduciary agent, a judge, legislator, or other public officer, a witness, a voter, etc.
- noun Anything that seduces: as, the bribes offered by glory or power.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete To rob or steal.
- transitive verb 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.
- transitive verb To gain by a bribe; of induce as by a bribe.
- noun obsolete A gift begged; a present.
- noun 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.
- noun That which seduces; seduction; allurement.
- intransitive verb obsolete To commit robbery or theft.
- intransitive verb 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.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Something (usually
money ) given inexchange forinfluence or as aninducement todishonesty . - verb transitive To give a
bribe to.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence
- noun payment made to a person in a position of trust to corrupt his judgment
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Whether a reward conferred for obedience shall operate as a bribe, or rather as a price paid -- for a _bribe_, strictly speaking, is a price paid, not for doing right, but for doing wrong -- depends sometimes on very slight differences in the management of the particular case -- differences which an undiscriminating mother will not be very ready to appreciate.
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Prosecutors said the defendants knew they were breaking the law when they agreed to pay the $1.5 million "commission" to the official, even if the word "bribe" wasn't mentioned.
Jury Clears Two Businessmen in 'Sting' Case on Bribery Christopher M. Matthews 2012
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A bribe is a bribe is a bribe is a political payoff!
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Kurtzer, who was an Obama adviser during the elections, said it was a mistake to offer Israel what he called a bribe for a mere three-month suspension of settlement activities.
Daoud Kuttab: 2010 Was a Year of Mixed Blessings for Palestinians Daoud Kuttab 2010
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This guy actually made what he called a bribe list on a napkin.
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A spokesperson for Mr. Farkas said, Mr. Paladino's allegation that Andrew Farkas, or any Farkas-related entity, ever paid Andrew Cuomo a 'bribe' is a pure fabrication.
Buffalo Native Makes It a Street Fight Jacob Gershman 2010
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An elected public servant who takes a bribe is undermining our democratic institutions.
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Nelson received $45 million in bribe money for his State to swing his vote doesn't anyone else find this criminal and IMPEACHABLE?
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But, that's not good enough for them, so they're spending $1.4 million a day (of their insureds premiums) to "lobby" (I call it bribe) Congress.
Obama's former doctor critical of White House health care plan 2009
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Not reporting to the IRS the $96,000 in bribe/hush money.
Think Progress » San Francisco Commonwealth Club postpones O’Keefe event. 2010
bilby commented on the word bribe
"Covetousness in such Men prompts them to prostitute the Publick for Gain.
The taking of a Bribe or Gratuity, should be punished with as severe Penalties, as the defrauding of the State.
Let Men have sufficient Salaries, and exceed them at their Peril."
- William Penn, 'Fruits of Solitude'.
Interestingly, this comes under the sub-heading Clean Hands.
September 8, 2009