PROVO'KE, v.t. [L.provoco, to call forth; pro and voco, to call.] 1. To call into action; to arouse; to excite; as, to provoke anger or wrath by offensive words or by injury; to provoke war.2. To make angry; to offend; to incense; to enrage. Ye fathers,provoke not your children to wrath. Eph.6. Often provoked by the insolence of some of the bishops--3. To excite; to cause; as, to provoke perspiration; to provoke a smile.4. To excite; to stimulate; to increase. The taste of pleasure provokes the appetite, and every successive indulgence of vice which is to form a habit, is easier than the last.5. To challenge. He now provokes the sea-gods from the shore.6. To move; to incite; to stir up; to induce by motives. Rom.10. Let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works. Heb.10.7. To incite; to rouse; as, to provoke one to anger. Deut.32.PROVO'KE, v.i. To appeal. [A Latinism,not used.]
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