Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SUE, v.t. [su; Fr. suivre, to follow, L. sequor. See Seek and Essay.]

1. To seek justice or right from one by legal process; to institute process in law against one; to prosecute in a civil action for the recovery of a real or supposed right; as, to sue one for debt; to sue one for damages in trespass. – Matth. v.
2. To gain by legal process.
3. To clean the beak, as a hawk; a term of falconry. To sue out, to petition for and take out; or to apply for and obtain; as, to sue out a writ in chancery; to sue out a pardon for a criminal.