appeal
Definitions
General English
- noun an act of asking for help
- noun an attractive quality
- verb to ask for something
- verb to make a legal request for a court to look again at a decision
Commerce
- noun the fact of being attractive
- noun the act of asking a law court or a government department to change its decision
Cricket
- noun an act of appealing to the umpireCitation ‘From the time he [Ramadhin] took Richardson’s wicket early on the fourth day, he had no further success in the match. Yet, during this period, he must have had at least fifty appeals turned down for lbw.’ (Manley 1988)
- verb to make a request to the umpire for his decision on any of various matters; especially, to request a decision as to whether a batsman is outCitation ‘On no account ought he to appeal unnecessarily. It is bad form, of which no cricketer should be guilty’ (Ranjitsinhji 1897)
Law
- noun the act of asking a higher court to change a decision of a lower court
- verb to ask a government department to change its decision or a high law court to change a sentence
Media Studies
- noun a short radio or television programme or a charity campaign asking for donations, usually for a particular cause
Politics
- noun a challenge to the ruling of the chairman of a meeting
- noun the process of asking a government department to change a decision
- noun the process of asking a higher court to change a decision of a lower court
- verb to ask someone to change a decision
Publishing
- noun the attractiveness of something which makes it popular
- verb to attract somebody
Origin & History of “appeal”
The ultimate Latin source of appeal, the verb adpellere (formed from the prefix ad- ‘to’ and pellere ‘drive’ – related to anvil, felt, and pulse), seems to have been used in nautical contexts in the sense ‘direct a ship towards a particular landing’. It was extended metaphorically (with a modification in form to appellāre) to mean ‘address’ or ‘accost’, and from these came two specific, legal, applications: ‘accuse’ and ‘call for the reversal of a judgment’. Appeal had both these meanings when it was first adopted into English from Old French apeler. The former had more or less died out by the beginning of the 19th century, but the second has flourished and led to the more general sense ‘make an earnest request’.
Peal (14th c.), as in ‘peal of bells’, is an abbreviated form of appeal, and repeal (14th c.) comes from the Old French derivative rapeler.
Peal (14th c.), as in ‘peal of bells’, is an abbreviated form of appeal, and repeal (14th c.) comes from the Old French derivative rapeler.
