Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Instigate

Instigate , transitive verb

[Latin instigatus, past participle of instigare to instigate; pref. in- in + a root akin to German stechen to prick, English stick. See Stick.]

To goad or urge forward; to set on; to provoke; to incite; -- used chiefly with reference to evil actions; as, to instigate one to a crime.
He hath only instigated his blackest agents to the very extent of their malignity. — Bp. Warburton