compassing
nounEtymology From Middle English compassynge; equivalent to compass + -ing.
1
Dated The forming of plots or schemes; machination.
- If this proposition needed a reply, it would be sufficient to point to what we have already shown. But take the external circumstances surrounding the case, and they discover that inward intention of the prisoner. His deliberate compassings, the nature and character of the act done, the deliberation shown in preparing for the deed, the state and condition of his mind at the time—all these show express malice.1878, Texas. Court of Appeals, Alexander Melvorne Jackson, Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Court of Appeals of the State of Texas: