<! p. 588 !>
For"ni*cate (?), v. i. [L. fornicatus, p. p. of fornicari to fornicate,
fr. fornix, -icis, a vault, a brothel in an underground vault.] To
commit fornication; to have unlawful sexual intercourse.
For`ni*ca"tion (?), n. [F. fornication, L. fornicatio.] 1. Unlawful
sexual intercourse on the part of an unmarried person; the act of such
illicit sexual intercourse between a man and a woman as does not by law
amount to adultery.
In England, the offense, though cognizable in the ecclesiastical
courts, was not at common law subject to secular prosecution. In the
United States it is indictable in some States at common law, in others
only by statute. Whartyon.