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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

3 entries under this word

Appeal

Ap-pēal', v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [Fr. appeler, Pr. appellar, Lat. appellare, to approach, to address, to invoke, to summon, to call, to name; a secondary form of appellere, to drive to, from ad and pellere, to drive.]

Sense 1. (Law.) To remove a cause from an inferior to a superior judge or court for the purpose of re-examination or for decision. Blount. Tomlins.

I appeal to Cæsar. Acts xxv. 11.

Sense 2. To refer to another for the decision of a question controverted, or the counteraction of testimony or facts; as, I appeal to all mankind for the truth of what is alleged; hence, to call on one for aid.

I appeal to the Scriptures in the original. Horsley.

Ap-pēal′, v. t.

verbtransitive

[imp. & p. p. APPEALED; p. pr. & vb. n. APPEALING.]

  1. To summon; to challenge. [Rare.] “Man to man will I appeal the Norman to the lists.” W. Scott.
  2. (Law.) (a.) To remove, as a cause, from an inferior to a superior judge or court. We say, the cause was appealed from an inferior court. (b.) To charge with a crime; to accuse; to institute a private criminal prosecution against for some heinous offense; as, to appeal a person of felony.

Ap-pēal', n.

noun

n. [Fr. appel, Pr. apel. See supra.]

  1. (Law.) (a.) The removal of a cause or suit from an inferior to a superior judge or court for re-examination or review. (b.) The mode of proceeding by which such removal is effected. (c.) The right of appeal. (d.) An accusation; a process which formerly might be instituted by one private person against another for some heinous crime demanding punishment for the particular injury suffered, rather than for the offense against the public. (e.) An accusation of a felon at common law by one of his accomplices, which accomplice was then called an approver. See APPROVEMENT. Tomlins. Bouvier.
  2. A summons to answer to a charge. Dryden.
  3. A call upon a person for proof or decision, or to grant a favor; reference to another as witness. “A kind of appeal to the Deity, the author of wonders.” Bacon.
  4. Resort; recourse.

Every milder method is to be tried, before a nation makes an appeal to arms. Kent.