▪ I. convict, ppl. a.
(kənˈvɪkt)
[ad. L. convict-us proved, convicted, confuted, pa. pple. of convincĕre: see convince. It occurs in AFr. in Act. 38 Edw. III, 1364–5.]
† A. as pa. pple. Obs.
1. Proved or pronounced guilty of an offence by a tribunal. Const. of.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter vi. 1 Lord in thi dome..sett noght swilk skilles agayns me þat i be conuycte. 1382 Wyclif Ex. xxi. 17 Who stelith a man, and sellith hym, conuycte [1388 conuyt] of the trespas, with deeth dye he. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 411/3 Wherof he was conuycte and wes shorne a monke. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. i. (Arb.) 47 Him that is conuicte of manslaughter. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iv. 192. 1670 Cotton Espernon iii. xii. 636 He had been Convict of having four Wives at one and the same time. 1738 Hist. Crt. Excheq. v. 96 He shall be held as convict. 1820 Byron Mar. Fal. v. i. 481 Convict by many witnesses..of the guilt of treachery and treason. |
b. with other const.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 459 They that were convict in conspiracie aȝenst hym. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vii. vi. 24 Mysdoaris for þare trespas convyct. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 154 The Jewys of Norwych were convicte before the Kyng, that thei had stole a child. 1525 Tindale N.T. Prol., We..are..convicte to eternall damnacioun. 1534 Whitinton Tullyes Offices i. (1540) 20 Suche..be as conuyct in the same iniury. a 1619 Donne βιαθανατος (1644) 94 A witch, which is convict to have eaten a man. a 1734 North Exam., Chronol. 24 May 1681, Welmore convict for kidnapping. |
2. Proved guilty of error or reprehensible action.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Cor. xiv. 24 If alle men prophecien, forsoth if ony vnfeithful man or ydiot entre, he is conuict of alle, he is wyseli demed of alle. 1515 Barclay Egloges iii. (1570) c iij/1 He shalbe convict of liuing repreuable. 1616 B. Jonson Epigrammes i. lxviii, Playwright convict of publick wrongs to men. 1700 Dryden Fables, Cinyras & M. 228 For Myrrha stood convict of ill, Her reason vanquish'd but unchang'd her will. a 1845 Hood Ghost xiii, And you, Sir..Of perjured faith convict. |
3. Proved, demonstrated, made evident.
| c 1400 Apol. Loll. 3 He is conuict not to be His vicar. |
4. Brought to internal conviction.
| 1558 Knox First Blast (Arb.) 36 Cain no doubte was conuict in conscience. 1613 Jackson Creed i. cxvi. Wks. I. 115 The later Grecians having their consciences convict with the evidence. |
5. Overcome, vanquished, subdued.
| c 1430 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. 147 Oure faderis here-beforn..were neuere in bataill, neyther conuycte ne lorn. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 129 Which [food] for the copye and superfluite therof can not be conuicte ne ouercume of nature. |
¶ Accused.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 132 No fault could be found against any of the Personnes that were convict before the king. By reason wherof, diverse..were restored to their offices. |
B. as adj.
1. = convicted.
| 1549 Coverdale in Udall's Erasm. Par., James 30 A convicte transgressour of the lawe. a 1625 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 343 His wife being a convict popish Recusant. a 1695 Wood Life (1848) 313 note, A convict libeller. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 528 ¶1 By fineing Batchelors as Papists convict. 1865 Nichols Britton II. 2 Unless he died as a felon convict. |
† 2. Proved, manifest. Obs.
| 1741 Warburton Div. Legat. II. 481 To argue against convict impertinencies. |
▪ II. convict, n.1
(ˈkɒnvɪkt)
[f. prec., with subseq. shift of the stress.]
1. One convicted in a judicial investigation of a punishable offence. arch.
| 1530–1 Act 22 Hen. VIII, c. 15 All wilfull escapes, as well of conuictes as of other persones. 1590 Greenwood Collect. Sclaund. Art. A ij b, Who..might delyuer them, as conuicts of heresie vnto the secular powers. 1740 Propos. Prov. Poor 13 Convicts of Theft and Robberies..may be committed. 1773 Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 44 The following convicts were executed at Tyburn pursuant to their sentence. 1858 J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 83 That this Galilean convict shall be the world's confessed deliverer. |
2. spec. A condemned criminal serving a sentence of penal servitude.
| 1786 Trials, etc., of J. Shepherd 49 The intended transportation of convicts to the new settlements at Botany Bay. 1823 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 15/1 Under the infamous term convict, are comprehended crimes of the most different degrees and species of guilt. One man is transported for, etc. 1841–44 Emerson Ess., Politics Wks. (Bohn) I. 242 The children of the convicts at Botany Bay. Mod. Escape of a convict from Dartmoor. |
† 3. A person proved to be wrong. Obs.
| 1581 Lambarde Eiren. iv. xiv. (1588) 562 Even so were these conuicts ridiculously purged by them. |
4. attrib. and Comb. (chiefly in sense 2). a. of or pertaining to convicts or to the system of keeping convicted criminals in penal establishments or settlements; b. used for convicts, as convict-barge, convict-colony, convict-dress, convict-hulk, convict-prison, convict-ship, etc.
| a. 1811 Bentham Wks. XI. 152 The convict population of the country. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 138/1 The importation of negro slaves..soon lowered the value of convict labour. 1863 P. Barry Dockyard Econ. 145 The unwieldy convict gangs. 1887 Times 26 Aug. 7/5 Of convict life in the Australian colonies. |
| b. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) III. 158 The Bishop sent him to the convict Prison. 1758 J. Blake Plan Mar. Syst. 50 The infection which a few hands taken out of a..convict-ship spread amongst the..seamen. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 146/2 On board the different convict-hulks a book is kept by an overseer, in which are entered the names of all convicts. 1849 E. E. Napier Excurs. S. Africa I. p. xviii, Giving the Mother Country the right to make the Cape a Convict Colony. 1885 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxxxii. 18 It shall be their convict dress to all eternity. 1890 Century Mag. XXXVIII. 743/2 He was..incarcerated in the central convict-prison at Kharkoff. |
▪ III. † conˈvict, n.2 Obs. Sc.
[f. convict v.]
= conviction, verdict of guilty.
| 1567 Sc. Acts Mary (1814) 566 (Jam.) The pretendit convict, decreit, and dome gevin in the Justice court. Ibid. 577 Diuerss poinctes and articles contenit in the convict foirsaid. |
▪ IV. convict, v.
(kənˈvɪkt)
[f. L. convict- ppl. stem of convinc-ĕre (see convince). Cf. convict ppl. a., which was in use before the other parts of the vb.; the pa. tense was also formerly sometimes convict(e.]
1. trans. To prove (a person) guilty of an offence which makes him liable to legal punishment; spec. to find or declare guilty, after trial before a legal tribunal, by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge. Const. of. (= convince 4.)
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 75 God techiþ..þat o trewe man, as danyel dede, schal conuycte two false prestis. 1516 in Myrr. our Ladye p. lix, To haue conuyctyd hym of heresye. 1584 D. Powel Lloyd's Cambria 387 No englishman should be conuicted except by English Judges. a 1610 Healey Theophrastus (1636) 25 Being convicted of theft, he shall be drawn and halled by head and shoulders. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. I. v. 332 If we believe some historians, they were convicted by sufficient evidence. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 196 Lawrence Earl Ferrers..was convicted and executed for murder, in the year 1760. 1839 Thirlwall Greece VI. 323 The attempts..made by the accusers of Socrates to convict him of treason against the Athenian commonwealth. |
† b. with other const. Obs.
| 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xviii. iii. 108 His wife..by good proofe was convicted to have written the same. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 468 The Spaniard..was afterwards convicted, that he would by treachery have invaded his Castles upon the Sound. |
c. absol.
| 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Compens. Wks. (Bohn) I. 42 If you make the criminal code sanguinary, juries will not convict. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 177 A single justice of the peace might convict without a jury. |
2. To prove or declare guilty of reprehensible conduct, error, etc.; now taken as transf. from prec. Const. of († for). (= convince 4.)
| c 1366 Chaucer A.B.C. 86 That he hath in hise lystes of mischaunce Conuict þat ye boþe haue bouht so deere. 1382 Wyclif Dan. xiii. 61 Danyel hadde conuict [1388 conuyctid] hem of her mouth, for to haue saide fals witnessyng. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 82 Augustin..mad many bokes; convicte many herisies. 1652 F. Hawkins Youth's Behav. i. §32 (1663) 7 That will..convict thee of a desire to have executed it thyself. 1708 J. Partridge (title) 'Squire Bickerstaff detected; or the astrological impostor convicted. 1840 Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile Poems (1850) I. 21, I..look away from Earth which doth convict me. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 136 One could hardly be convicted now of want of sensibility, if, etc. |
b. transf.
| 1845 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 10 That boundless plain of Languedoc, convicted of all guide-books of being arid, brown, and wholly uninteresting. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps iv. §7. 99, I have just convicted the Greek fret of ugliness. |
† 3. To prove, establish by proof, as against assertions to the contrary. (= convince 5.) (Orig. of things blamable.) Obs.
| c 1400 Apol. Loll. 3 If he be conuicted not to luf, ne to do þe office of Crist. 1558 Kennedy Tractive in Wodr. Soc. Misc. (1844) 119 Thir twa argumentis..convictis the generale Counsalis to be the membir of the Congregatioun representand the universale Kirk. 1563 Homilies ii. Rebellion ii. (1859) 565 Convicting such subjects..to be neither good subjects nor good men. a 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. (J.), Imagining that these proofs will convict a testament to have that in it which other men can nowhere by reading find. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 137 Cold water may be allowed to those are used to it, on the state and the matter being convicted. |
4. To bring conviction or acknowledgement of error home to (a person); to impress with the sense of sinfulness. Cf. conviction 8.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 4 b, Notwithstandynge that theyr owne reason conuicted them. 1611 Bible John viii. 9 They..being conuicted by their owne conscience, went out one by one. 1624 Fletcher Wife for Month iv. i, You are too late convicted to be good yet. 1862 Furnivall Pref. R. Brunne's Handl. Synne 18 You yet speak to us, and convict us of sin as we read your words. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 227 He is supposed to have a mission to convict men of self-conceit. |
† 5. To compel (a person) by proof, argument, etc. to acknowledge an assertion, confess an opinion, etc.; = convince 3. Obs.
| 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. vii. 39 The people were conuicted of Gods mighty working in their behalfe. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. i. iv. (1622) 7 He would..by his owne confession conuict him, that the Common-wealth was but one body. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. i. 3 He did not indubitably believe, untill he was after convicted in the visible example of Abel. 1659 M. Casaubon Pref. Dee's Relat. Spir. D j b, If by that time he be not convicted he shall have my good will to give it over. |
6. To prove (a doctrine (obs.) or its holders) to be wrong, erroneous, or false; = convince 6. arch.
| 1594 [see conviction 3]. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. viii. 122 Which conceit being already convicted, not only by Scaliger, Riolanus and others, but daily confutable almost every where out of England. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 387 To convict, or prove the contrary, refutare. 1705 E. Howard (title) Copernicans of all Sorts Convicted. 1865 Grote Plato I. xi. 371 No man shall be able to convict you in dialogue. |
† b. To detect and expose (an error, etc.). Obs.
| 1717 J. Fox Wanderer (1718) 139 Arguments..sufficient to convict the Fallacy of a desponding Principle. |
† 7. To overcome, vanquish, conquer; = convince 1. Obs. (Cf. convict pa. pple. 5.)
| 1595 Shakes. John iii. iv. 2 A whole Armado of conuicted saile Is scattered and dis-ioyn'd from fellowship. 1607 Pilgr. Princes 11 [Hippolita] being convicted by Theseus, for her singular stoutnes and courage, was married to him. |
Hence conˈvicting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1611 Cotgr., Eviction, an eviction, convincement, or convicting. 1865 C. J. Vaughan Plain Words xi. (1866) 211 These accusing and convicting consciences. 1868 Daily News 13 Aug., The belief of the convicting magistrates. |