challenge vb. (1 the orig. sense, the ultimate etym. of the word being Latin ‘calumniari’=to accuse falsely; 2, 3 the chief Eliz. uses)
1.
to
accuse, bring a charge against
Tit. I. i. 340
“c-d of wrongs,”
Mac. III. iv. 42
“ for
unkindness.”
2.
to lay claim to,
claim as due, demand or urge as a right LLL. V. ii. 813,
R2 II. iii. 134
“I am a subject, And
challenge law,”
3H6 III. ii. 86, IV. vi. 6, IV. vii. 23,
Oth. II. i. 214
“his worthiness Does
challenge much respect,”
Lucr. 58; absol.
Lr. I. i. 55
“Where nature doth with
merit challenge.”
3.
to summon to fight or
single combat (freq.) Ado I. i.
42, H8 I. i. 34;
Tw.N. II. iii. 137
“to challenge him the
field.”
∥ The foll. variants of the last phrase
occur: ‘to challenge a person in the
field’ (1556), ‘into the field’
(1693), ‘to challenge the field one of
another’ (1693).
