bribe
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bribe (brīb)
noun
- anything, esp. money, given or promised to induce a person to do something illegal or wrong
- anything given or promised to induce a person to do something against his or her wishes
Etymology: ME < OFr, morsel of bread given to beggars < briber, to beg
transitive verb bribed, bribing brib′·ing
- to offer or give a bribe to
- to get or influence by bribing
intransitive verb
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Alternate definitions:
bribe
n.
bribe
v.
Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Object
- janitor: He was obliged to bribe the janitor, too, because the laws of the house permitted neither animals nor babies within its precincts.
Converse of object
- accept: From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes?
Adjective modifier
- alleged: The timing of the alleged bribe to Mr Mills is thus a subject of great debate.
Modifies a noun
- row: Continue reading " The Observer: " Olympic bribes row forces London into £ 15m U-turn " - will anyone resign?
Noun used with modifier
- election: And that on top of Gordon Brown withdrawing the council tax subsidy he introduced as an election bribe last year.
The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.
Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune, He had not the method of making a fortune.
The man who offers a bribe gives awaya little of his own importance; the bribe once accepted, he becomes the inferior, like a man who has just paid for a woman.
Marriage is a bribe to make a housekeeper think she's a householder.
Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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MLA Style
"bribe." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009
- Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
- <www.yourdictionary.com/bribe>
APA Style
bribe. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary
- Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/bribe
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