In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.
PREVARICATING
Verb
prevaricating
present participle of prevaricate
Source: Wiktionary
PREVARICATE
Pre*var"i*cate, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Prevaricated; p. pr. & vb. n. Prevaricating.] Etym: [L. praevaricatus, p. p. of praevaricari to walk crookedly, to collude; prae before + varicare to straddle, fr. varicus straddling, varus bent. See Varicose.]
1. To shift or turn from one side to the other, from the direct course, or from truth; to speak with equivocation; to shuffle; to quibble; as, he prevaricates in his statement. He prevaricates with his own understanding. South.
2. (Civil Law)
Definition: To collude, as where an informer colludes with the defendant, and makes a sham prosecution.
3. (Eng. Law)
Definition: To undertake a thing falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it.
Syn.
– To evade; equivocate; quibble; shuffle.
– Prevaricate, Evade, Equivocate. One who evades a question ostensibly answers it, but really turns aside to some other point. He who equivocate uses words which have a double meaning, so that in one sense he can claim to have said the truth, though he does in fact deceive, and intends to do it. He who prevaricates talks all round the question, hoping to "dodge" it, and disclose nothing.
Pre*var"i*cate, v. t.
Definition: To evade by a quibble; to transgress; to pervert. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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