IN'STIGATE, verb transitive [Latin instigo; in and stigo, inusit; Gr. to prick.] To incite; to set on; to provoke; to urge; used chiefly or wholly in an ill sense; as, to instigate one to evil; to instigate to a crime.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI