E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Prevarica’tion.
The Latin word varico is to straddle, and prœvaricor, to go zigzag or crooked. The verb, says Pliny, was first applied to men who ploughed crooked ridges, and afterwards to men who gave crooked answers in the law courts, or deviated from the straight line of truth. (See DELIRIUM.)
