perjury
[pur-juh-ree]
- the willful giving of false testimony under oath or affirmation, before a competent tribunal, upon a point material to a legal inquiry.
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Origin of perjury
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for perjury
Contemporary Examples
The charges included corruption, perjury, bid-fixing and fraud.
Madonna, Carla Bruni & Obama Abandoned Pledges To Rebuild L'Aquila After The QuakeBarbie Latza Nadeau
November 18, 2014
Then, after the headlines came out, the sources recanted, and they have since been convicted (in Syrian courts) of perjury.
Digital Doublethink: Playing Truth or Dare with Putin, Assad and ISISChristopher Dickey, Anna Nemtsova
November 16, 2014
The woman was acquitted of perjury, which could have landed the mother of three 15 years in jail.
He was convicted of perjury, served 30 days, and went back to a swashbuckling career in contraband.
The Weirdest Story About a Conservative Obsession, a Convicted Bomber, and Taylor Swift You Have Ever ReadDavid Weigel
August 30, 2014
“It boiled down to a perjury charge,” he tells The Daily Beast.
Historical Examples
The only perjury is Snawley's, and I fancy he is pretty well used to it.
The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas NicklebyCharles Dickens
They could not, above all, endure this immensity of perjury and sacrilege.
The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, CompleteDuc de Saint-Simon
Then you were guilty of perjury at that time, or you are guilty of perjury now?
A Son of HagarSir Hall Caine
He had not been taught that treason and perjury were the proofs of honor and honesty.
They were subject to a single will; moved often by perjury, and sometimes by passion.
perjury
- criminal law the offence committed by a witness in judicial proceedings who, having been lawfully sworn or having affirmed, wilfully gives false evidence
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Word Origin
C14: from Anglo-French parjurie, from Latin perjūrium a false oath; see perjure
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for perjury
n.
late 14c., "act of swearing to a statement known to be false," via Anglo-French perjurie (late 13c.) and Old French parjurée "perjury, false witness," both from Latin periurium "a false oath," from periurare "swear falsely," from per- "away, entirely" (see per) + iurare "to swear" (see jury (n.)). Related: Perjurious.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper