pious fraud

1 definition found

pious fraud - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Fraud \Fraud\ (fr[add]d), n. [F. fraude, L. fraus, fraudis;
     prob. akin to Skr. dh[=u]rv to injure, dhv[.r] to cause to
     fall, and E. dull.]
     1. Deception deliberately practiced with a view to gaining an
        unlawful or unfair advantage; artifice by which the right
        or interest of another is injured; injurious stratagem;
        deceit; trick.
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              If success a lover's toil attends,
              Few ask, if fraud or force attained his ends.
                                                    --Pope.
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     2. (Law) An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose
        of obtaining some valuable thing or promise from another.
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     3. A trap or snare. [Obs.]
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              To draw the proud King Ahab into fraud. --Milton.
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     Constructive fraud (Law), an act, statement, or omission
        which operates as a fraud, although perhaps not intended
        to be such. --Mozley & W.
  
     Pious fraud (Ch. Hist.), a fraud contrived and executed to
        benefit the church or accomplish some good end, upon the
        theory that the end justified the means.
  
     Statute of frauds (Law), an English statute (1676), the
        principle of which is incorporated in the legislation of
        all the States of this country, by which writing with
        specific solemnities (varying in the several statutes) is
        required to give efficacy to certain dispositions of
        property. --Wharton.
  
     Syn: Deception; deceit; guile; craft; wile; sham; strife;
          circumvention; stratagem; trick; imposition; cheat. See
          Deception.
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