Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Prosecution

Pros′e·cu′tion (·kū′shŭn), n. [L. prosecutio a following.] 1. The act or process of prosecuting, or of endeavoring to gain or accomplish something; pursuit by efforts of body or mind; as, the prosecution of a scheme, plan, design, or undertaking; the prosecution of war.

Keeping a sharp eye on her domestics . . . in prosecution of their various duties. Sir W. Scott.

2. (Law) (a) The institution and carrying on of a suit in a court of law or equity, to obtain some right, or to redress and punish some wrong; the carrying on of a judicial proceeding in behalf of a complaining party, as distinguished from defense. (b) The institution, or commencement, and continuance of a criminal suit; the process of exhibiting formal charges against an offender before a legal tribunal, and pursuing them to final judgment on behalf of the state or government, as by indictment or information. (c) The party by whom criminal proceedings are instituted. Blackstone. Burrill. Mozley & W.

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.