prosecute

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. Law To initiate civil or criminal court action against.
2. v. Law To seek to obtain or enforce by legal action.
3. v. To pursue (an undertaking, for example) until completion; follow to the very end.
4. v. To chase or pursue (a vessel): "He held a dispatch saying that [they] had prosecuted and probably killed an Echo-class missile submarine” ( Tom Clancy).
5. v. To carry on, engage in, or practice.
6. v. Law To initiate and conduct legal proceedings.
7. v. Law To act as prosecutor.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To follow up; pursue with a view to attain or obtain; continue endeavors to accomplish or complete; pursue with continued purpose; carry on; follow up: as, to prosecute a scheme; to prosecute an undertaking.
2. In law: To seek to obtain by legal process: as, to prosecute a claim in a court of law.
3. To arraign before a court of justice for some crime or wrong; pursue for redress or punishment before a legal tribunal: as, to prosecute a man for trespass or for fraud. A person instituting civil proceedings is said to prosecute his action or suit; a person instituting criminal proceedings, or civil proceedings for damages for a wrong, is said to prosecute the party charged.
4. To proceed against or pursue by law: said of crimes.
5. Synonyms To follow out, persevere in.—2 . To arraign.
6. To carry on a legal prosecution; act as a prosecutor before a legal tribunal.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive, law To start civil or criminal proceedings against.
2. v. transitive, law To charge, try.
3. v. transitive To pursue something to the end.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To follow or pursue with a view to reach, execute, or accomplish; to endeavor to obtain or complete; to carry on; to continue.
2. v. To seek to obtain by legal process.
3. v. (Law) To pursue with the intention of punishing; to accuse of some crime or breach of law, or to pursue for redress or punishment, before a legal tribunal; to proceed against judicially.
4. v. obsolete To follow after.
5. v. (Law) To institute and carry on a legal prosecution.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. carry out or participate in an activity; be involved in
2. v. bring a criminal action against (in a trial)
3. v. conduct a prosecution in a court of law