Wiktionary

stand trial

English edit

WOTD – 17 July 2020

Etymology edit

From stand (“to undergo, withstand”) + trial.

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

stand trial (third-person singular simple present stands trial, present participle standing trial, simple past and past participle stood trial)

  1. (law) To be put on trial in a court of law; go on trial.
    • 1658 (indicated as 1657), The Practise of the Sheriffs Court London. […], [London]: [s.n.], →OCLC; reprinted London: Arthur Taylor, […], c. 1830, →OCLC, page 16:
      Also observe that if there be six weeks between the bayl and issue joyning, the Defendant shall not remove his playnt by writ, but shall stand tryall below.
    • 1723, W[illiam] Bohun, “Fees Incident to the Sheriffs Court, &c. of London”, in Privilegia Londini: Or, The Rights, Liberties, Privileges, Laws, and Customs of the City of London. […], 3rd edition, London: […] D. Browne, W. Mears, R. Gosling, T. Woodward, J. Hooke, F. Clay, and J. Stephens, →OCLC, page 462:
      Alſo obſerve, That if there be ſix Weeks between the Bail and Iſſue Joyning, the Defendant ſhall not remove his Plaint by Writ, but ſhall ſtand Tryal below.
      A quotation of the 1658 work above.
    • 1731, Philip a Limborch [i.e., Philipp van Limborch], “How the Prisoner Hath a Copy of the Evidence, without the Names of the Witnesses”, in Samuel Chandler, transl., The History of the Inquisition. [...] Translated into English [...] In Two Volumes. […], volume I, London: […] J. Gray, […], →OCLC, page 176:
      The Witneſſes having been re-examined, a Copy of the Proofs brought againſt the Criminals is uſually given to them, that they may the ſooner determine, whether they will give up the Cauſe, or ſtand Trial, [...]
    • 1873 August 30, Charles Morris, “A Life in the Balance”, in Dio[cletian] Lewis, editor, To-Day, volume II, number 9 (number 44 overall), Philadelphia, Pa.: To-Day Printing and Publishing Co., →OCLC, chapter XXII (Tried for His Life), page 138, column 1:
      You are to judge between the Commonwealth and the prisoner, who stands trial for the murder, by poison, of Elizabeth Gordon.
    • 1999, John Lie, Nancy Abelmann, “The 1992 Los Angeles Riots and the ‘Black–Korean Conflict’”, in Kwang Chung Kim, editor, Koreans in the Hood: Conflict with African Americans, Baltimore, Md., London: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 75:
      This anger escalated and later exploded when innocent verdicts were given to four police officers standing trial for the beating of Rodney King.
    • 2015, Pate McMichael, “The Parable of Two Goats: Hayneville, October–December 1965”, in Klandestine: How a Klan Lawyer and a Checkbook Journalist Helped James Earl Ray Cover Up His Crime, Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press, →ISBN, part IV (Krossings in Klan Kountry, 1965–1966), page 130:
      Four years later, in December 1965, an NSRP [National States' Rights Party] member named Hubert Strange, twenty-five, stood trial for killing Willie Brewster, a blue-collar African American.
  2. (idiomatic) To sustain the trial or examination of a cause; not to give up without trial.
    • 1637–1638 (date written), Richard Brome, “The Damoiselle, or The New Ordinary. A Comedy.”, in A[lexander] Brome, editor, Five New Playes, […], London: […] Humphrey Moseley, Richard Marriot, and Thomas Dring, […], published 1653, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, signature [C7], verso:
      Nay, it ſeems, / My Boy has charg'd thee vvith't, before his yeares / Could vvarrant his ability in Combate, / And ſo is fallen; Or thou, not daring ſtand / Tryall in ſuch a cauſe, by treachery / Haſt cut him off; And com'ſt to make thy peace: / Preſuming on my Poverty, vvith money.
    • c. 1700, Charles W[ashington] Baird, “The Churches: Early Ministry. 1674–1700.”, in Chronicle of a Border Town: History of Rye, Westchester County, New York 1660–1870 […], New York, N.Y.: Anson D. F. Randolph and Company […], published 1871, →OCLC, page 281:
      At a towne meting in Rye March 1, 1699–1700, the towne hath past a vote that they will not stand tryal with Mr. Woodbridg. At the same towne meting the towne hath by vote agreed that what shall be wanting of the mony that is due to Mr Woodbridg from the several persons that hath not yet paid the Remainder of the mony the town will make it up by way of supply in the next towne rate.
    • 1741 August 8, F[rancis] L[ister] Hawks, quoting George Whitefield, “American Ecclesiastical History. Art. VII.—Whitefield’s Accusations against the Early Missionaries to America, and Their Defence. [Letter from Mr. Whitefield to the Bishop of Oxford. On Board the Mary and Ann, Bound from London to Scotland, July 28th, 1741 (Julian calendar).]”, in [Nathaniel Smith Richardson], editor, The Church Review, and Ecclesiastical Register, volume III, number 3, New Haven, Conn.: George B. Bassett, […], published October 1850, →OCLC, pages 442–443:
      Those at a distance cannot well conceive how contemptible our Church is abroad, and that owing to the unworthy, immoral, and negligent lives of the generality of our Missionarys, several of which have come over to us, because they could not stand tryal among the dissenters, or have lived too loosely among them.

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