Search Result for "trespass": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (2)

1. a wrongful interference with the possession of property (personal property as well as realty), or the action instituted to recover damages;

2. entry to another's property without right or permission;
[syn: trespass, encroachment, violation, intrusion, usurpation]


VERB (5)

1. enter unlawfully on someone's property;
- Example: "Don't trespass on my land!"
[syn: trespass, intrude]

2. make excessive use of;
- Example: "You are taking advantage of my good will!"
- Example: "She is trespassing upon my privacy"
[syn: trespass, take advantage]

3. break the law;

4. commit a sin; violate a law of God or a moral law;
[syn: sin, transgress, trespass]

5. pass beyond (limits or boundaries);
[syn: transgress, trespass, overstep]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Trespass \Tres"pass\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Trespassed; p. pr. & vb. n. Trespassing.] [OF. trespasser to go across or over, transgress, F. tr['e]passer to die; pref. tres- (L. trans across, over) + passer to pass. See Pass, v. i., and cf. Transpass.] 1. To pass beyond a limit or boundary; hence, to depart; to go. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Soon after this, noble Robert de Bruce . . . trespassed out of this uncertain world. --Ld. Berners. [1913 Webster] 2. (Law) To commit a trespass; esp., to enter unlawfully upon the land of another. [1913 Webster] 3. To go too far; to put any one to inconvenience by demand or importunity; to intrude; as, to trespass upon the time or patience of another. [1913 Webster] 4. To commit any offense, or to do any act that injures or annoys another; to violate any rule of rectitude, to the injury of another; hence, in a moral sense, to transgress voluntarily any divine law or command; to violate any known rule of duty; to sin; -- often followed by against. [1913 Webster] In the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord. --2 Chron. xxviii. 22. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Trespass \Tres"pass\, n. [OF. trespas, F. tr['e]pas death. See Trespass, v.] 1. Any injury or offence done to another. [1913 Webster] I you forgive all wholly this trespass. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. --Matt. vi. 15. [1913 Webster] 2. Any voluntary transgression of the moral law; any violation of a known rule of duty; sin. [1913 Webster] The fatal trespass done by Eve. --Milton. [1913 Webster] You . . . who were dead in trespasses and sins. --Eph. if. 1. [1913 Webster] 3. (Law) (a) An unlawful act committed with force and violence (vi et armis) on the person, property, or relative rights of another. (b) An action for injuries accompanied with force. [1913 Webster] Trespass offering (Jewish Antiq.), an offering in expiation of a trespass. Trespass on the case. (Law) See Action on the case, under Case. [1913 Webster] Syn: Offense; breach; infringement; transgression; misdemeanor; misdeed. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

trespass n 1: a wrongful interference with the possession of property (personal property as well as realty), or the action instituted to recover damages 2: entry to another's property without right or permission [syn: trespass, encroachment, violation, intrusion, usurpation] v 1: enter unlawfully on someone's property; "Don't trespass on my land!" [syn: trespass, intrude] 2: make excessive use of; "You are taking advantage of my good will!"; "She is trespassing upon my privacy" [syn: trespass, take advantage] 3: break the law 4: commit a sin; violate a law of God or a moral law [syn: sin, transgress, trespass] 5: pass beyond (limits or boundaries) [syn: transgress, trespass, overstep]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

194 Moby Thesaurus words for "trespass": adopt, adoption, advance upon, appropriate, appropriation, arrogate, arrogation, assume, assumption, atrocity, bad faith, barge in, breach, breach of contract, breach of faith, breach of law, breach of privilege, breach of promise, breach of trust, breach the law, break, break bounds, break in, break in upon, break the law, breaking, burst in, butt in, charge in, circumvent the law, come between, commit a crime, commit sin, contravene, contravention, crash, crash in, crash the gates, creep in, crime, crime against humanity, crowd in, cut in, deadly sin, defy, delinquency, dereliction, deviate, disobey the law, disregard the law, do amiss, do violence to, do wrong, do wrong by, edge in, elbow in, encroach, encroachment, enormity, enter, entrance, entrench, entrenchment, err, error, evil, failure, fault, felony, flout, foist in, genocide, go too far, guilty act, heavy sin, horn in, impinge, impingement, impose, impose on, impose upon, imposition, impropriety, incursion, indiscretion, inexpiable sin, infiltrate, infiltration, influx, infract, infraction, infringe, infringement, iniquity, injection, injury, injustice, inroad, insinuate, insinuation, interfere, interference, interjection, interlope, interloping, intermeddle, interpose, interposition, interposure, interruption, intervene, intervention, intrude, intrusion, invade, invasion, irrupt, irruption, know no bounds, lapse, lawbreaking, make an inroad, malefaction, malfeasance, malum, minor wrong, misdeed, misdemeanor, misfeasance, mortal sin, nonfeasance, obtrude, obtrusion, offend, offense, omission, outrage, overstep, overstep the bounds, overstepping, peccadillo, peccancy, penetrate, pierce, play God, playing God, press in, pretend to, probe, push in, put on, put upon, rush in, seize, seizure, set at defiance, set at naught, set naught by, sin, sin of commission, sin of omission, sinful act, slink in, slip, slip in, smash in, sneak in, squeeze in, steal in, storm in, take over, throng in, thrust in, tort, trample on, trample underfoot, trample upon, transgress, transgression, trench, trespassing, trip, unlawful entry, unutterable sin, usurp, usurpation, venial sin, violate, violate the law, violation, violation of law, work in, worm in, wrong
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

TRESPASS torts. An unlawful act committed with violence, ti et armis, to the person, property or relative rights of another. Every felony includes a trespass, in common parlance, such acts are not in general considered as trespasses, yet they subject the offender to an action of trespass after his conviction or acquittal. See civil remedy. 2. There is another kind of trespass, which is committed without force, and is known by the name of trespass on the case. This is not generally known by the name of trespass. See Case. 3. The following rules characterize the injuries which are denominated trespasses, namely: 1. To determine whether an injury is a trespass, due regard must be had to the nature of the right affected. A wrong with force can only be offered to the absolute rights of personal liberty and security, and to those of property corporeal; those of health, reputation and in property incorporeal, together with the relative rights of persons, are, strictly speaking, incapable of being injured with violence, because the subject-matter to which they relate, exists in either case only in idea, and is not to be seen or handled. An exception to this rule, however, often obtains in the very instance of injuries to the relative rights of persons; and wrongs offered to these last are frequently denominated trespasses, that is, injuries with force. 4.-2. Those wrongs alone are characterized as trespasses the immediate consequences of which are injurious to the plaintiff; if the damage sustained is a remote consequence of the act, the injury falls under the denomination of trespass on the case. 5.-3. No act is injurious but that which is unlawful; and therefore, where the force applied to the plaintiff's property or person is the act of the law itself, it constitutes no cause of complaint. Hamm. N. P. 34; 2 Phil. Ev. 131; Bac. Abr. h.t.; 15 East R. 614; Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t. As to what will justify a trespass, see Battery.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

TRESPASS, remedies. The name of an action, instituted for the recovery of damages, for a wrong committed against the plaintiff, with immediate force; as an assault and battery against the person; an unlawful entry into his, land, and an unlawful injury with direct force to his personal property. It does not lie for a mere non-feasance, nor when the matter affected was not tangible. 2. The subject will be considered with regard, 1. To the injuries for which trespass may be sustained. 2. The declaration. 3. The plea. 4. The judgment. 3.-Sec. 1. This part of the subject will be considered with reference to injuries, 1. The person. 2. To personal property. 3. To real property. 4. When trespass can or cannot be justified by legal proceedings. 4.-1. Trespass is the proper remedy for an assault and battery, wounding, imprisonment, and the like, and it also lies for an injury to the relative rights when occasioned by force; as, for beating, wounding, and imprisoning a wife or servant, by which the plaintiff has sustained a loss. 9 Co. 113; 10 Co. 130. Vide Parties to actions; Per guod, and 1 Chit. Pr. 37. 5.-2. The action of trespass is the proper remedy for injuries to personal property, which may be committed by the several acts of unlawfully striking, chasing, if alive, and carrying away to the damage of the plaintiff, a personal chattel, 1 Saund. 84, n. 2, 3; F. N. B. 86; Bro. Trespass, pl. 407; Toll. Executors, 112; Cro. Jac. 362, of which another is the owner and in possession; but a naked possession or right to immediate possession, is a sufficient title to support this action. 1 T. R. 480; and gee 8. John. R. 432; 7 John. R. 535; 11 John. R. 377; Cro. Jac. 46; 1 Chit. Pl. 165. 6.-3. Trespass is the proper remedy for the several acts of breaking through an enclosure, and coming into contact with any corporeal hereditament, of which another is the owner and in possession, and by which a damage has ensued. There is an ideal fence, reaching in extent upwards, a superficie terrae usque ad caelum, which encircles every man's possessions, when he is owner of the surface, and downwards as far as his property descends; the entry, therefore, is breaking through this enclosure, and this generally constitutes, by itself, a right of action. The plaintiff must be the owner, and in possession. 5 East, R. 485; 9 John. R. 61; 12 John. R. 183; 11 John. R. 385; Id. 140; 3 Hill, R. 26. There must have been some injury, however, to entitle the plaintiff to recover, for a man in a balloon may legally be said to break the close of the plaintiff, when passing over it, as he is wafted by the wind, yet as the owner's possession is not by that act incommoded, trespass could not probably be maintained; yet, if any part of the machinery were to fall upon the land, the aeronaut could not justify an entry into it to remove it, which proves that the act is not justifiable. 19 John. 381 But the slightest injury, as treading down the grass, is sufficient. Vide 1 Chit. Pl. 173; 2 John, R. 357: 9 John. R. 113, 377; 2 Mass. R. 127; 4 Mass. R. 266; 4 John. R. 150. 7.-4. It is a general rule that when the defendant has acted under regular process of a court of competent jurisdiction, or of a single magistrate having jurisdiction of the subject-matter, it is a sufficient justification to him; but when the court has no jurisdiction and the process is wholly void, the defendant cannot justify under it. 8. But there are some cases, where an officer will not be justified by the warrant or authority of a court, having jurisdiction. These exceptions are generally founded on some matter of public policy or convenience; for example, when a warrant was issued against a mail carrier, though the officer was justified in serving the warrant, he was liable to an indictment for detaining such mail carrier under the warrant, for by thus detaining him, he was guilty of "willfully obstructing or retarding the passage of the mail, or of the driver or carrier," contrary to the provisions of the act of congress of 1825, ch. 275, s. 9. 8 Law Rep. 77. See Ambassador; Justification. 9.-Sec. 2. The declaration should contain a concise statement of the injury complained of, whether to the person, personal or real property, and it must allege that the injury was committed vi et armis and contra pacem; in which particulars it differs from a declaration in case. See Case, remedies. 10.-Sec. 3. The general issue is not guilty. But as but few matters can be given in evidence under this plea, it is proper to plead special matters of defence. 11.-Sec. 4. The judgment is generally for the damages assessed by the jury, and for costs. When the judgment is for the defendant, it is that be recover his costs. Vide Irregularity; Regular and Irregular process. Vide, generally, Bro. Ab. h.t.; Nelson's Ab. h.t.; Bac. Ab. h.t.; Dane's Ab. h.t.; Com. Dig. h.t.; Vin. Ab. h.t.; the various American and English Digests, h.t.; 2 Phil. Ev. 131; Ham. N. P. 33 to 265; Chit. Pr. Index, h.t.; Rose. Civ. Ev. h.t.; Stark. Ev. h.t.; Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.