Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PER-VERT', v.t. [L. perverto; per and verto, to turn.]

1. To turn from truth, propriety, or from its proper purpose; to distort from its true use or end; as, to pervert reason by misdirecting it; to pervert the laws by misinterpreting am misapplying them; to pervert justice; to pervert the meaning of an author; to pervert nature; to pervert truth. – Milton. Dryden.
2. To turn from the right; to corrupt. He in the serpent had perverted Eve. – Milton.