bribe

  • verb dishonestly persuade (someone) to act in one’s favour by paying them or giving other inducement.

  • noun an inducement offered in an attempt to bribe.

  — DERIVATIVES bribery noun.

  — ORIGIN originally in the sense rob, extort, later money extorted or demanded: from Old French briber, brimber ‘beg’.

Perform another search of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary

About this dictionary
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English contains 145,000 words, phrases, and definitions.
Find out more about Oxford's range of English dictionaries
Sign up for the AskOxford Word of the Day

Search the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
Search the Concise Dictionary of First Names