noun.
Accusation; charge.
noun.
A claim or demand; pretension.
noun.
A summons or invitation to a duel; a calling upon one to engage in single combat, as for the vindication of the challenger's honor; a defiance.
noun.
Hence An invitation to a contest or trial of any kind: as, a challenge to a rubber at whist; a challenge to a public debate; “a challenge to controversy,”
noun.
The letter or message containing the summons to a combat or contest.
noun.
Milit., the act of a sentry in demanding the countersign from any one who approaches his post.
noun.
In hunting, the opening cry of hounds on first finding the scent of their game.
noun.
A calling in question; an exception taken, as to the tenability of a proposition, or a person's right to do something or to hold something.
noun.
In law, an objection to a juror; the claim of a party that a certain juror shall not sit in the cause.
noun.
In the East Indies, an exception taken by a ryot to the assessment of a neighbor's holding when it is less than that of his own poorer holding, accompanied by an offer to take over the neighbor's holding at a higher assessment, and a claim for the assessment on his own to be correspondingly reduced.
To accuse; call to answer; censure.
To lay claim to; demand as due or as a right: as, the Supreme Being challenges our reverence and homage.
To call, invite, or summon to single combat or duel.
To call to a contest; call into opposing activity; invite to a trial; defy: as, to challenge a man to prove what he asserts (implying defiance).
To take exception to; object to (a person or thing); call in question: as, to challenge the accuracy of a statement. Specifically
In law, to object or take exception to, as a juror or jury panel. See challenge, n., 9—7. Milit., to demand the countersign from: as, a sentry is bound to challenge every person appearing near his post. See challenge, n., 6.
In hunting, to whimper or cry when the scent of game is first discovered: said of a hound.