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Error


ER'ROR, noun [Latin error from erro, to wander.] A wandering or deviation from the truth; a mistake in judgment, by which men assent to or believe what is not true. error may be voluntary, or involuntary. Voluntary, when men neglect or pervert the proper means to inform the mind; involuntary, when the means of judging correctly are not in their power. An error committed through carelessness or haste is a blunder.

Charge home upon error its most tremendous consequences.

1. A mistake made in writing or other performance. It is no easy task to correct the errors of the press. Authors sometimes charge their own errors to the printer.

2. A wandering; excursion; irregular course.

Driv'n by the winds and errors of the sea.

[This sense is unusual and hardly legitimate.]

3. Deviation from law, justice or right; oversight; mistake in conduct.

Say not, it was an error Ecclesiastes 5:6.

4. In scripture and theology, sin; iniquity; transgression.

Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Psalms 19:12.

5. In law, a mistake in pleading or in judgment. A writ of error is a writ founded on an alleged error in judgment, which carries the suit to another tribunal for redress. Hence the following verb,

ER'ROR, verb transitive To determine a judgment of court to be erroneous.

[The use of this verb is not well authorized.]