evese 
eveset, " An obsolete form of caves. 
evestart, [ME. cvcsterre: see even-star.'] The 
evening star. 
evestigatet (e-ves'ti-gat), r. t. [< L. evestigatus, 
pp., traced out, < e, out, + vestigatus, trace. 
See investigate, vestigate.} To investigate. 
Bailey. 
evet (ev'et), n. [E. dial, also evat, efet (contr. 
eft, also ewt, whence, from an ewt taken as a 
newt, the other form newt), < AS. e/ete, a newt: 
see ef ft, newt.'] 1. Same as efft. 2. A name 
of the crimson-spotted triton of the United 
States. 
evibratet (e-vi'brat), v. i. [< L. evibratus, pp. of 
evibrare, swing forward, move, excite, < e, out, 
+ vibrare, swing: see vibrate.'] To vibrate. 
evicket, See eveeke. 
evict (e-vikf), v. t. [< L. evictus, pp. of evin- 
cere, overcome, prevail over, recover one's prop- 
erty by judicial decision, succeed in proving: 
see evince."] 1. To dispossess by a judicial 
process or course of legal proceedings ; expel 
from lands or tenements by legal process. 
If either party be evicted for the defect of the other's 
title. Blackstone. 
2. To wrest or alienate by reason of the hostile 
assertion of an irresistible title, though without 
judicial process. See eviction, 2. 
His lands were evicted from him. 
King James's Declaration. 
Hence 3. To expel by force; turn out or re- 
move in any compulsory way: as, to evict dis- 
turbers from a theater. 4f. To evince; prove. 
I do not desire to be equal to those that went before, 
but to have my reason examined with theirs, and so much 
faith to be given them, or me, as those shall evict. 
B. Jonson, Discoveries. 
The main question is evicted. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 156. 
5f. To set aside ; displace ; annul. 
The will hart been disputed ; and the possible heir-at- 
law had been bound over by the Council, "if he do evict 
the will, to stand to the King's award and arbitrement." 
E. A. Abbott, Francis Bacon (1885), p. 171. 
6f. To force out ; compel. [Rare.] 
Your happy exposition . . . 
Evicts glad grant from me you hold a truth. 
Chapman, Ciesar and Pompey, iv. 3. 
eviction (e-vik'shon), n. [= F. eviction = Sp. 
eviccion = Pg. eviccSo = It. evizione, < LL. evic- 
tio(n-), recovery of one's property by judicial 
decision, < evicttts, pp. of evincere, evict: see 
evict."] 1. Dispossession by judicial sentence ; 
the recovery of lands or tenements from an- 
other's possession by due course of law. 
Eviction is the one dread of the Irish tenant, for once 
evicted he has before him only emigration, the workhouse, 
or the grave. 
W. S. Gregg, Irish Hist, for Eng. Readers, p. 161. 
2. An involuntary loss of possession, or ina- 
bility to get a promised possession, by reason 
of the hostile assertion of an irresistible title. 
Hence 3. Forcible expulsion ; the act of turn- 
ing out or driving away, as a trespasser or dis- 
turber of the peace. 4|. Proof; conclusive 
evidence. 
Rather as an expedient for peace than an eviction of the 
right. Sir S. L'Estrange. 
evictor (e-vik'tor), n. One who evicts. 
As it is notorious that tenants rarely have any money 
laid by, one of the main ideas in the mind of evictors since 
its passing has been to break their tenancies under it [the 
Act of 1881]. Contemporary Rev., LI. 129. 
evidence (ev'i-dens), w. [< ME. evidence, < OF. 
evidence, F. evidence = Pr. evidencia, evidensa = 
Sp. Pg. evidencia = It. evidenza, evidenzia, < L. 
evidentia, clearness, LL. a proof, < eviden(t-)s, 
ppr., clear, evident: see evident.] 1. The state 
of being evident, clear, or plain, and not liable 
to doubt or question ; evidentness ; clearness ; 
plainness; certitude. See mediate and imme- 
diate evidence, etc., below. [Rare in common 
use.] 
Those beliefs are "evidently " true which can, on reflec- 
tion, be seen to be so evident that we require no grounds 
at all for believing them save the ground of their own very 
evidence. Mivart, Nature and Thought, p. 183. 
2. The means by which the existence or non- 
existence or the truth or falsehood of an alleged 
fact is ascertained or made evident; testi- 
mony; witness; hence, more generally, the facts 
upon which reasoning from effect to cause is 
based ; that which makes evident or plain ; the 
experiential premises of a proof. 
"These aren euydmces," quath Hunger, "for hem that 
wolle nat swynken, 
That here [their] lyflode be lene, and lytel worth here 
clothes." Piers Plowman (C), ix. 263. 
There is not a greater Evidence of God's Care and Love 
to his Creature than Affliction. Hoitett, Letters, I. vi. 57. 
2042 
Evidence for the imputation there was scarcely any ; un- 
less reports wandering from one mouth to another, and 
gaining something by every transmission, may be called 
evidence. Macaulay, Warren Hastings. 
Whenever a true theory appears, it will be its own evi- 
dence. Emerson, Nature, p. 7. 
Evidence signifies that which demonstrates, makes clear, 
or ascertains the truth of the very fact or point in issue, 
either on the one side or on the other. 
Blackstone, Com., III. xxiii. 
Specifically, in law: (a) A deed; an instrument or docu- 
ment by which a fact is made evident : as, evidences of 
title (that is, title-deeds) ; evidences of debt (that is, writ- 
ten obligations to pay money). 
A boxe with iiij. ewydeiice. 
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 327. 
Of the pith or heart of the tree is made paper for bookes 
and euidences. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 506. 
I sent you the evidence of the piece of land 
I motion'd to you for the sale. 
Webster, Devil's Law-Case, i. 1. 
(6) One who supplies testimony or proof ; a witness : now 
used chiefly in the phrase "turning state's (or queen's) 
evidence." 
Infamous and perjured evidences. Scott. 
(c) Information, whether consisting of the testimony of 
witnesses or the contents of documents, or derived from 
inspection of objects, which tends, or is presented as tend- 
ing, to make clear the fact in question in a legal investi- 
gation or trial ; testimony : as, he offered evidence of good 
character. 
His evidence, if he were called by law 
To swear to some enormity he saw, 
For want of prominence and just relief 
Would hang an honest man and save a thief. 
Cowper, Conversation. 
The evidence of a deeply interested witness, given on 
the side which his interest would incline him to give it, 
is of no value when the circumstances are such that he 
cannot be contradicted on the subject-matter of his evi- 
dence. Nineteenth Century, XX. 456. 
(d) In a more restricted sense, that part of such information 
or testimony which is properly receivable or has actually 
been received by the court on the trial of an issue : some- 
times more specifically characterized as judicial evidence : 
as, that is not evidence, my lord ; the age of the accused is 
not in evidence. In this latter sense sometimes, especially 
in equity practice, spoken of as the proofs, (e) The rules 
by which the reception of testimony is regulated in courts 
of justice : as, a treatise on evidence; professor of plead- 
ing and evidence. Adminlcular, circumstantial, con- 
clusive, cumulative, extrinsic, hearsay, etc. evi- 
dence. See the adjectives. Demurrer to evidence. 
See demurrer?. Direct evidence, that which goes ex- 
pressly to the very point in question ; that which, if be- 
lieved, proves the point without aid from inference or 
reasoning, as the testimony of an eye-witness to an occur- 
rence, as distinguished from indirect or circumstantial evi- 
dence, which goes expressly to other facts only, from which 
it is proposed to infer what was the fact on the point in 
question. Documentary evidence, evidence supplied 
by written instruments. Documentary Evidence Act, 
an English statute of 1868 (31 and 32 Viet., c. 37), making 
all laws, proclamations, and other official documents which 
purport to be printed in the Gazette or by the govern 
ment printer, or certified by the clerk of the Privy Coun- 
cil, and also, by an amendment in 1882 (45 Viet., c. 9), if 
they purport to be printed by authority of Her Majesty's 
Stationery Office, receivable in evidence without further 
proof. Evidence aliunde. See aliunde. Evidences 
of Christianity. See Christianity. Formal evidence, 
the character of the act of reason by which anything is 
recognized as certain and indubitable. Immediate evi- 
dence, that state or degree of evidentness which belongs 
to an object plainly perceived. In evidence, (n) In law, 
having been received by the court as competent evidence in 
the cause on trial ; being a part of the accepted proofs. (6) 
Plainly visible; conspicuous: a recent phrase adopted from 
the French en evidence. Instruments of evidence, the 
media, such as witnesses, documents, etc., through which 
the evidence of facts is conveyed to the mind of a judicial 
tribunal. Best. King's evidence, queen's evidence, 
state's evidence, one charged with a crime who waives 
his privilege against criminating himself in order that his 
testimony as a witness may be used to convict another im- 
plicated with him. Law of evidence, that part of the law 
which determines the necessity, the methods, and the suffi- 
ciency of proof of facts as a basis for the administration of 
justice. It is a system consisting partly of principles and 
partly of artificial rules, established partly by precedent 
and partly bystatute, and originating partly in logical prin- 
ciples and partly in judicial experience in investigating 
controversies by means of human testimony ; the object 
of the system being to guide courts in deciding what sub- 
jects require proof, what facts are to be received as evi- 
dence, what testimony or documents may be used for the 
purpose and in what manner, and what the effect of evi- 
dence thus received should be. Mediate evidence, the 
clearness and force of a demonstration. Moral evi- 
dence, the evidence of an irresistible probable argument. 
Negative evidence. See positive evidence. Objec- 
tive evidence, the character of the object of a certain and 
indubitable cognition. Opinion evidence. See opinion. 
- Oral evidence, parol evidence, evidence by word of 
mouth ; testimony, as distinguished from documentary 
evidence. Testimony taken by deposition, and thus pre- 
sented in writing, is deemed oral evidence, not documen- 
tary evidence. Positive evidence. () Direct evidence 
(which see, above). (6) Testimony to having witnessed an 
act or event, as distinguished from negative evidence, or 
the testimony of a witness who was present and observant. 
that such act or event did not take place. As between 
equally credible witnesses, positive testimony is entitled 
to more weight than negative, because it may be that one 
witness, though present, did not see or hear that which 
another witness did. Presumptive evidence, prima 
facie evidence, evidence sufficient if not controverted : 
used technically in two distinct senses which are often 
confused (a) Evidence sufficient to go to the jury, and on 
evidential 
which therefore it would be error for the judge to decide 
in place of the jury, but on which the jury may fairly 
decide either way. (6) .Evidence sufficient Dot only logo to 
the jury, but to require them to find accordingly if no credi- 
ble contrary evidence be given. Primary evidence, the 
best evidence, as distinguished from secondary evidence; 
or evidence of such a nature as to imply (unless uxplanat ion 
is given) that better evidence exists and is kept back. Thus, 
if it is sought to prove the contents of a written contract, 
the instrument itself is the best evidence of the contents, 
and it must be produced, or satisfactory excuse must be 
given, before witnesses can be allowed to testify what the 
contents were. But among such witnesses the testimony 
of the writer of it, though more satisfactory than that of 
others, is not therefore deemed the best or primary evi- 
dence in the technical sense. Real evidence, the evi- 
dence afforded by inspection or actual examination of the 
person or thing by the court or jury, when the question 
involves the condition of such pel-son or thing. Satis- 
factory evidence, or sufficient evidence, such evidence 
as in amount is adequate to justify the court or jury in 
adopting the conclusion in support of which it is adduced. 
Secondary evidence, evidence not primary, but which 
may be admitted upon showing proper reasons for failure 
to obtain primary evidence. = Syn. Testimony, Evidence, 
Proof, Exhibit, deposition, affidavit. In law, testimony 
is evidence given by witnesses. Evidence is the broader 
term, including that which is given by witnesses or af- 
forded by documents or by the inspection of the person 
or object itself. Proof is the effect of evidence in estab- 
lishing the conclusion of fact to support which it is ad- 
duced. Proofs are the evidence in a cause, including tes- 
timony and documents. An exhibit is a document which 
has been presented as evidence. 
evidence (ev'i-dens), v. t.; pret. and pp. evi- 
denced, ppr. evidencing. [< evidence, .] 1. To 
make evident or clear ; show clearly ; prove. 
These things the Christian religion requires, as might be 
evidenced from texts. , T illation. 
It a beam of wood, freely suspended, be very gently 
scratched with a pin, its particles will be thrown into a 
state of vibration, as will be evidenced by the sound given 
out, but the beam itself will not be moved. 
Huxley and Youmans, Physlol., 265. 
The new chancellor of the exchequer [Gladstone] intro- 
duced his budget, April 18, 1853, in a speech which evi- 
denced a commanding grasp of fiscal details. 
S. Dowell, Taxes in England, II. 321. 
2f. To attest or support by evidence or testi- 
mony; witness. 
The commissioners weighed ye cause and passages, as 
they were clearly represented & sufficiently evidenced be- 
twixte Uncass and Myantinomo. 
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 424. 
evidencert (ev'i-den-ser), n. A witness. 
Oates wrought, as it seems, for his good, to bring him 
into the preferment of an evidencer's place. 
Roger North, Examen, p. 238. 
evident (ev'i-dent), a. and n. [< ME. evident, 
< OF. evident, 'F. evident = Pr. evident, eviden 
= Sp. Pg. It. evidente, < L. eviden(t-)s, visible, 
apparent, clear, plain (cf. LL. evideri, appear 
plainly), < L. e, out, + vidcre, ppr. viden(t-)s, 
see, deponent videri, appear, seem.] I. a. 1. 
Plainly seen or perceived ; manifest ; obvious ; 
plain: as, an evident mistake ; it is evident that 
he took the wrong path. 
And on my side it is so well apparel'd, 
So clear, so shining, and so evident, 
That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 4. 
As for lying in the Campagnia, the Rain was so vehe- 
ment we could not do that, without an evident danger both 
to our Selves and Horses. 
JUaundrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 9. 
2. Clearly discernible or distinguishable ; cer- 
tain; indubitable: as, in entomology, an evi- 
dent scutellum (that is, one well developed, or 
not concealed by other parts). 
We must find 
An evident calamity, though we had 
Our wish which side should win. 
Shak., Cor., v. :t. 
3f. Furnishing evidence ; conclusive. 
Render to me some corporal sign about her 
More evident than this ; for this was stolen. 
Shak., Cymbeline, ii. 4. 
= Syn. 1. Clear, Plain, etc. (see manifest, a.); palpable, 
patent, unmistakable. See list under appari ni. 
II. n. Something which serves as evidence ; 
evidence; specifically, in Scots law. a writ or 
title-deed by which property is proved : a term 
used in conveyancing. 
evidential (ev-i-den'shal), a. [< LL. eridentia. 
evidence, + -a/.] Of the nature of evidence; 
affording evidence ; proving; indicative. Also 
evidentiary. 
The miracles of the English saints, about which we have 
lately heard so much, never seem to have been regarded 
as evidential. Ledty, Rationalism, I. 180. 
An anticipation, again, which was unknown and unheard 
of until some of the ancient Fathers began to speculate- 
about it, long after it could have been of iiny evidential 
use as a prophetic miticipation applicable to Christ! 
Nineteenth Centura, XX. 95. 
Evidential or evidentiary facts, in hue. details, cir- 
cumstances, and consequences proper to he shown by way 
