Word: appeal Part of Speech: verb Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *pel- Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂-der. Proto-Indo-European *-né-der. Proto-Italic *pelnōder. Latin pellō Latin appellāreder. Old French apelerdeverb. Old French apelder. Middle English apelen /appelen English appeal 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. Pronunciation: /əˈpiːl/ 1. 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. Labels: intransitive Example: Dissatisfied with the judge’s ruling, she decided to appeal. Example: He was advised by his lawyer to appeal against his conviction. 2. To apply to a superior court or judge to review and overturn (a decision or order by an inferior court or judge). Labels: transitive Example: The plaintiff appealed the decision to the appellate court. Example: 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. 3. To accuse or charge (someone) with wrongdoing (especially treason). Labels: historical, transitive Example: 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 / Example: 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: […] 4. Of a private person: to instituted legal proceedings (against another private person) for some heinous crime, demanding punishment for the particular injury suffered. Labels: historical, transitive 5. Of the accomplice of a felon: to make an accusation at common law against (the felon). Labels: historical, transitive 6. 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. Labels: intransitive Example: And we are as willing to appeal to the Scripture as you. Example: 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. 7. 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. Labels: intransitive 8. To call upon someone for a favour, help, etc. Labels: intransitive Example: I appeal to all of you to help the orphans. Example: 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. 9. To have recourse or resort to some physical means. Labels: figuratively, intransitive Example: 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. 10. To be attractive. Labels: figuratively, intransitive Example: That idea appeals to me. Example: 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. 11. To summon (someone) to defend their honour in a duel, or their innocence in a trial by combat; to challenge. Labels: historical, transitive Example: […] 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!