sue

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. Law To petition (a court) for redress of grievances or recovery of a right.
2. v. Law To institute proceedings against (a person) for redress of grievances.
3. v. Law To carry (an action) through to a final decision.
4. v. To court; woo.
5. v. Obsolete To make a petition to; appeal to; beseech.
6. v. Law To institute legal proceedings; bring suit.
7. v. To make an appeal or entreaty: "I sue for grace, and thou deny'st me” ( Francis Quarles).
8. v. To pay court; woo.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To follow; follow after; pursue; chase; follow in attendance; attend.
2. To follow up; follow out; continue.
3. To follow with entreaty; seek to persuade; entreat.
4. To seek after; try to win; seek the favor of; seek in marriage; woo.
5. To seek justice or right from by legal process; institute process in law against; prosecute in a civil action for the recovery of a real or supposed right: as, to sue one for debt; to sue one for damages in trespass.
6. To follow; come after, either as a consequence or in pursuit.
7. To make entreaty; entreat; petition; plead: usually with for.
8. To pay court, or pay one's addresses as a suitor or lover; play the lover; woo, or be a wooer.
9. To prosecute; make legal claim; seek for something in law: as, to sue for damages.
10. To issue; flow.
11. An old spelling of sew, sew, 2.

Wiktionary

1. v. obsolete, transitive To follow.
2. v. transitive To file a legal action against someone, generally a non-criminal action.
3. v. transitive To seek by request; to make application; to petition; to entreat; to plead.
4. v. obsolete, transitive To court.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To follow up; to chase; to seek after; to endeavor to win; to woo.
2. v. To seek justice or right from, by legal process; to institute process in law against; to bring an action against; to prosecute judicially.
3. v. To proceed with, as an action, and follow it up to its proper termination; to gain by legal process.
4. v. (Falconry) To clean, as the beak; -- said of a hawk.
5. v. (Naut.) To leave high and dry on shore.
6. v. To seek by request; to make application; to petition; to entreat; to plead.
7. v. (Law) To prosecute; to make legal claim; to seek (for something) in law.
8. v. To woo; to pay addresses as a lover.
9. v. (Naut.) To be left high and dry on the shore, as a ship.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against
2. n. French writer whose novels described the sordid side of city life (1804-1857)