Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The formal examination of a prospective juror under oath to determine suitability for jury service or of a prospective witness under oath to determine competence to give testimony.
  • transitive verb To conduct a voir dire of.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In law. See examination on the voir dire, under examination.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • (Law) An oath administered to a witness, usually before being sworn in chief, requiring him to speak the truth, or make true answers in reference to matters inquired of, to ascertain his competency to give evidence.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun law The preliminary phase of a jury trial in which the jurors are examined and selected.
  • noun law A preliminary hearing without a jury in order to determine whether the evidence meets the test for admissibility to go to a full hearing at a criminal trial, in the legal systems of England and Wales, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Anglo-Norman, to speak the truth : Latin vērus, true; see wērə-o- in Indo-European roots + Latin dīcere, to say; see deik- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman, literally “to speak the truth”, from Old French voir ("true; truly") (from Latin vērus ("true")) + dire ("to say") (from Latin dīcere ("to speak; to say")).

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