Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LIT'I-GATE, v.t. [L. litigo, from lis, litis, a contest or debate; Ar. لَدَّ ladda, to dispute. Class Ld, No. 2. Lis, litis, coincides with the Saxon flit, contention; flitan, to contend.]

To contest in law; to prosecute or defend by pleadings, exhibition of evidence, and judicial debate; as, to litigate a cause or a question.