Suborn was among our top lookups on June 4th, 2018, following news reports that prosecutors working under special counsel Robert Mueller had accused President Trump's former campaign manager with attempting to tamper with witnesses.
Person D1 told the government that Person D1 understood Manafort’s messages to be an effort to “suborn perjury” by influencing Person D1’s potential statements.
— Declaration in Support of the Government's Motion to Revoke or Revise Defendant Paul J. Manafort, Jr.'s Current Order of Pretrial Release, 4 Jun. 2018 (filed)
Suborn comes from the Latin subornare, meaning "to secretly furnish or equip," and has been in use in English since at least 1524. We define two senses of the word; "to induce secretly to do an unlawful thing," and "to induce to commit perjury; also : to obtain (perjured testimony) from a witness."
An act or instance of suborning is subornation, and one who suborns is a suborner.
But if he be found upon due enquirey to have no Coherence with what he ought to be, but a Suborner, a deceiver of Men's Lives, Honour, Souls and all that is dear to them; then where's the harm we do any Profession, or the wrong any Creature can sustaine in his being Detected?
— Anon., An Account of a New and Strange Discovery That Was Made by John Sheirly, 1700
