PREVAR'ICATE, verb intransitive [Latin proevaricor; proe and varico, varicor, to straddle.] 1. To shuffle; to quibble; to shift or turn from one side to the other, from the direct course or from truth; to play foul play. I would think better of himself, than that he would wilfully prevaricate 2. In the civil law, to collude; as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution. 3. In English law, to undertake a thing falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it. PREVAR'ICATE, verb transitive To pervert; to corrupt; to evade by a quibble. [But in a transitive sense, this word is seldom or never used.]
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI