wrong-doer
(ˈrɒŋˌduːə(r))
Also wrongdoer.
[f. wrong n.2 + doer.]
One who does wrong.
1. One who commits wrongful, unjust, or blameworthy acts; one who transgresses or offends against the moral law.
| 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love ii. xiii. (Skeat) l. 18 Suche maner badnesse, whiche is used to purifye wrong-doers, is som⁓what. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. li. 123, I knowe hov all þinge is doon, I knowe þe wronge doer & suffrer. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. iv. (1885) 116 That he defende his peple ayenst wronge doers inwarde bi justice. Ibid., All the wronge doers of þe reaume. a 1513 Fabyan Chron. (1811) 307 Wyllyam, which was..a defendor of y⊇ pore people agayne extorcioners & wronge doers, was by them put wrongfully to deth. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. xxii, She resolved to spende all her yeares..in..praying for the wrong-dooer. 1612 Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. iv. ii. ¶11 Who is so ready to except and exclaim as the wrong doer? 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 183 [That] the King..may both govern and rule..the Holy Church, and that he defend the same from wrong-doers. 1703 Rowe Ulysses iii. i, Vindictive Jove prepares his Thunder. Let the Wrong-doer and the Tyrant tremble. 1795–6 Wordsw. Borderers v. 2071 He forgave The wrong and the wrong-doer. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 646 They were..men of blame⁓less life, and..were regarded..not as wrongdoers, but as martyrs. 1880 W. H. D. Adams Wrecked Lives Ser. i. p. iv, The unerring Nemesis of Failure dogs the footsteps of the wrongdoers. |
2. Law. One who is guilty of a wrong, tort, or trespass; a trespasser, tort-feasor; a law-breaker.
| 1501 Nottingham Rec. (1885) III. 306 The seid Mayrez and brethern..shall..punysshe the wrongdoers therin in such maner as they may lawfully do. 1628 Coke On Litt. 181 For that [action] maketh him a wrong doer. 1642 ― Inst. ii. 168 If the goods or merchandises..be.. taken away by certaine wrong doers not knowne. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 171 If any Seat..be taken away by a Stranger, the Church-warden..may have their Action against the Wrong-doer. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 182 A writ of entry in the post..only alleges the injury of the wrong⁓doer. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 142 For the same acts that are good, when done by the person who has right, are not sufficient in the case of a wrong-doer. 1856 N. Brit. Rev. XXVI. 271 Shall the master..be answerable pecuniarily to the dead man's widow, or shall it be the wrong-doer? 1911 Times 17 May 3/4 He..denied that the mere fact..relieved a wrongdoer from paying damages. |