elenchize

English

Etymology

From elenchus +‎ -ize.

Verb

elenchize (third-person singular simple present elenchizes, present participle elenchizing, simple past and past participle elenchized)

1. (archaic) To dispute.
   • 1629 (first performance), B[en] Jonson, The New Inne. Or, The Light Heart. […], London: […] Thomas Harper, for Thomas Alchorne, […], published 1631, →OCLC, (please specify the page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Or syllogize, elenchize

2. (archaic) To argue by elenchus, leading one's opponent to the desired conclusion by agreement with a series of logical steps.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “elenchize”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)