Offering money or gifts to someone to get them to do something illegal or wrong.
From Old French 'briber' meaning 'to beg' or 'to steal,' possibly from a Celtic source. Over time, it specialized to mean offering illicit payments, and the '-ing' form creates the present participle.
Bribing is so common throughout history that ancient Rome had a specific term for it—'ambitus'—and they had actual laws against it because elections were being completely corrupted by wealthy candidates paying voters.
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