pray in aid

pray in aid (third-person singular simple present prays in aid, present participle praying in aid, simple past and past participle prayed in aid)

1. (intransitive, now rare) To resort to the help (of); to call on the support (of), especially to help prove an argument.
2. (transitive, chiefly law) To ask for the help of (someone or something) in pleading a case; to make use of, adduce (something) in defence of a case, argument etc.
   • 2009 October, The Economist, page 84:

     Other, smaller craters in the North Sea and Ukraine have been prayed in aid of this theory.

• prayee