appeal
verbEtymology From Middle English apelen, appelen (“to accuse; to make a formal charge before a court, etc., impeach; to challenge to trial by combat; to apply to a higher court or authority for review of a decision; to call upon for a decision, favour, help, etc.; to call by a name”) [and other forms], from Old French apeler (“to call; to call out”); see further at etymology 1.
11 senses
- 1Often followed by against (the inferior court's…
- 2To apply to a superior court or judge to review and…
- 3To accuse or charge (someone) with wrongdoing…
- 4Of a private person: to instituted legal proceedings…
- 5Of the accomplice of a felon: to make an accusation at…
- 6To call upon a person or an authority to corroborate a…
- 7Of a fielding side; to ask an umpire for a decision on…
- 8To call upon someone for a favour, help, etc.
- 9To have recourse or resort to some physical means.
- 10To be attractive.
- 11To summon (someone) to defend their honour in a duel, or…
Law Often followed by against (the inferior court's decision) or to (the superior court): to apply to a superior court or judge for a decision or order by an inferior court or judge to be reviewed and overturned.
- Dissatisfied with the judge’s ruling, she decided to appeal.
- He was advised by his lawyer to appeal against his conviction.
1 more example
- For if I [Jesus] be an offender, or haue committed any thing worthy of death, I refuſe not to die: but if there be none of theſe things whereof theſe accuſe me, no man may deliuer me vnto them. I appeale vnto Ceſar.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 25:11, column 2:
Law To apply to a superior court or judge to review and overturn (a decision or order by an inferior court or judge).
- The plaintiff appealed the decision to the appellate court.
- The supreme court of Victoria has upheld a decision the transfer of juvenile detainees to an adult maximum security prison, where some of them spent Christmas Day, was unlawful. The [Daniel] Andrews government had appealed the original decision, which was handed down last week.2016 December 28, Calla Wahlquist, “Supreme court upholds ruling that children are being held at adult prison unlawfully”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Jan 2021:
Law Historical To accuse or charge (someone) with wrongdoing (especially treason).
- This ſhalle not ſo be ended ſaid ſyr Mador de la porte / for here haue I loſte a ful noble knyght of my blood / And therfore vpon this ſhame & deſpyte I wille be reuenged to the vtteraunce / and there openly ſir Mador appeled the quene of the dethe of his coſyn ſir patryſe /[1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum Tercium”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book XVIII (in Middle English), [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC, leaf 365, recto; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC, page 729, lines 12–17:
- We thanke you both, yet one but flatters vs, / As well appeareth by the cauſe you come, / Namely to appeale each other of high treaſon: […]1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
1 more example
- He gan that Ladie ſtrongly to appele / Of many haynous crymes by her enured, / And with ſharpe reaſons rang her ſuch a pele, / That thoſe, whom ſhe to pitie had allured, / He now t'abhorre and loath her perſon had procured.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 39, page 307:
Law Historical Of a private person: to instituted legal proceedings (against another private person) for some heinous crime, demanding punishment for the particular injury suffered.
Law Historical Of the accomplice of a felon: to make an accusation at common law against (the felon).
To call upon a person or an authority to corroborate a statement, to decide a controverted question, or to vindicate one's rights; to entreat, to invoke.
- And we are as willing to appeal to the Scripture as you.1692, John Milton, chapter II, in [Joseph Washington], transl., A Defence of the People of England, […]: In Answer to Salmasius’s Defence of the King, [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 18:
- If I should sometimes have occasion, which will be but seldom, to appeal to the Scriptures in the original language, it will not be to impose a new sense upon the texts which I may find it to my purpose to produce, but to open and ascertain the meaning, where the original expressions may be more clear and determinate than those of our translation.a. 1807, Samuel Horsley, “Sermon I. St. James v. 8. For the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”, in Sermons, volume I, New York, N.Y.: […] T. and J. Swords, […], published 1811, →OCLC, page 2:
Ball games, Cricket, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports Of a fielding side; to ask an umpire for a decision on whether a batsman is out or not, usually by saying "How's that?" or "Howzat?".
To call upon someone for a favour, help, etc.
- I appeal to all of you to help the orphans.
- What is more, I call upon the greater part of you as witnesses to my statement, and I appeal to all of you who have ever listened to me talking (and there are a great many to whom this applies) to clear your neighbours’ minds on this point.1954, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick, “Socrates on Trial: The Apology”, in The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, →OCLC, pages 21–22:
Figuratively To have recourse or resort to some physical means.
- Among the claimants were the mightiest sovereigns of the continent: there was little chance that they would submit to any arbitration but that of the sword; and it could not be hoped that, if they appealed to the sword, other potentates who had no pretension to any part of the disputed inheritance would long remain neutral.1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XXIII, in Lady Trevelyan (Hannah More Macaulay), editor, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume V, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, →OCLC, page 94:
Figuratively To be attractive.
- That idea appeals to me.
- The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 110:
Historical To summon (someone) to defend their honour in a duel, or their innocence in a trial by combat; to challenge.
- […] I have friends, I have followers—man to man will I appeal the Norman to the lists; let him come in his plate and his mail, and all that can render cowardice bold; I have sent such a javelin as this through a stronger fence than three of their war shields!1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 57: