Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Prosecute

Pros′e·cute (prŏs′ē·kūt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prosecuted; p. pr. & vb. n. Prosecuting.] [L. prosecutus, p. p. of prosequi to follow, pursue. See Pursue.]

1. To follow or pursue with a view to reach, execute, or accomplish; to endeavor to obtain or complete; to carry on; to continue; as, to prosecute a scheme, hope, or claim.

I am beloved Hermia; Why should not I, then, prosecute my right ? Shak.

2. To seek to obtain by legal process; as, to prosecute a right or a claim in a court of law.

3. (Law) To pursue with the intention of punishing; to accuse of some crime or breach of law, or to pursue for redress or punishment, before a legal tribunal; to proceed against judicially; as, to prosecute a man for trespass, or for a riot.

To acquit themselves and prosecute their foes. Milton.

Pros′e·cute, v. i. 1. To follow after. [Obs.] Latimer.

2. (Law) To institute and carry on a legal prosecution; as, to prosecute for public offenses. Blackstone.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.