abet

verb

to encourage or assist a person in wrongdoing
to aid, assist, or support others in the achievement of a purpose

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /əˈbɛt/

noun

Etymology: From Middle English abetten, abette, from Old French abeter (“to entice”), from a- (“to”) + beter (“hound on, urge, to bait”), either from Middle Dutch bētan (“incite”) or from Old Norse beita (“to cause to bite, bait, incite”), from Proto-Germanic *baitijaną (“to cause to bite”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”). Cognate with Icelandic beita (“to set dogs on; to feed”). Alternate etymology traces the Middle English and Old French words through Old English *ābǣtan (“to hound on”), from ā- + bǣtan (“to bait”), from the same source (Proto-Germanic *baitijaną). See also bait, bet.

Fraud or cunning.
An act of abetting; of helping; of giving aid.

verb

To incite; to assist or encourage by aid or countenance in crime.
“aid and abet”
“Those who would exalt themselves by abetting the strength of the Godless, and the wrength of the oppressors.”
To support, countenance, maintain, uphold, or aid (any good cause, opinion, or action).
“Our duty is urged, and our confidence abetted.”
“The elements, however, abetted me in making a path through the deepest snow in the woods, for when I had once gone through the wind blew the oak leaves into my tracks, where they lodged, and by absorbing the rays of the sun melted the snow, and so not only made a dry bed for my feet, but in the night their dark line was my guide.”
To urge on, stimulate (a person to do) something desirable.
To back up one's forecast of a doubtful issue, by staking money, etc., to bet.