litigate

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

LIT'IGATE, verb transitive [Latin litigo, from lis, litis, a contest or debate.] To contest in law; to prosecute or defend by pleadings, exhibition of evidence, and judicial debate; as, to litigate a cause or a question. LIT'IGATE, verb intransitive To dispute in law; to carry on a suit by judicial process.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI

More founding-era words: liberty · virtue · republic · justice · providence · commerce · militia · arms · prudence · establishment · religion · usurpation · tyranny · citizen · unalienable · sovereign