You searched for: “aid
Word Entries containing the term: “aid
aid and abet (verb), aids and abets; aided and abetted; aiding and abetting
1. To help a person, or people, to commit a crime: The lawyer's client was aiding and abetting the bank robbers by driving the getaway car.
2. Etymology: This terminology is considered to be a lawyer's redundancy since abet means the same thing as aid, which gives credence to the old rumor that lawyers used to be paid by the word as illustrated by the following statements as shown below.

To help, assist, or to facilitate the commission of a crime, to promote the accomplishment thereof, to help in advancing or bringing it about, or to encourage, counsel, or to incite as to its commission.

Aid and abet includes all the assistance rendered by words, acts, encouragement, support, or presence, actual or constructive, to render assistance if necessary.

—Compiled from information provided by Black's Law Dictionary;
Sixth Edition; by Henry Campbell Black, M.A.; West Publishing Co.;
St. Paul, Minn; 1990, page 68.
This entry is located in the following unit: English Words in Action, Group A (page 3)