Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CHAL'LENGE, v.t.

1. To call, invite or summon to answer for an offense by single combat, or duel.
2. To call to a contest; to invite to a trial; as, I challenge a man to prove what he asserts, implying defiance.
3. To accuse; to call to answer. – Spenser. Shak.
4. To claim as due; to demand as a right; as, the Supreme Being challenges our reverence and homage.
5. In law, to call off a juror, or jurors; or to demand that jurors shall not sit in trial upon a cause. [See the noun.]
6. To call to the performance of conditions.