Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRE-VAR'I-CATE, v.i. [It. prevaricare; Sp. prevaricar; Fr. prevariquer; L. prævaricor; præ and varico, varicor, to straddle.]

1. To shuttle; to quibble; to shin or turn from one side to the other, from the direct course or from truth; to play foul play. I would think better of himself, than that he would willfully prevaricate. – Stillingfleet.
2. In the civil law, to collude; as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution. – Encyc.
3. In English law, to undertake a thing falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it. Cowel.