▪ I. treason, n.
(ˈtriːz(ə)n)
Forms: 3–4 treison, 5–6 treyson; 3–5 (Sc. –6) trayson, -one, 4 (Sc. –6) -oun, 6 Sc. -oune; 4 (Sc. 6) traison, 4–6 -oun; 3–5 tresun, -oun, 3–7 -on, 4–5 -une, -oune, -one, 5 -own; 4 tressun, 5 -on, 5–6 -one, 6 Sc. -oun; 5– treason, (5 -oune, 5–7 -oun, Sc. 5–6 trason, 6 -oun, -oune, 7 treassoune).
[a. AFr. treysoun, tresun, treson, -oun, = OF. traïson (11th c.), in mod.F. trahison = Pr. traicio, Cat. traició, Sp. traición, Pg. trai{cced}ão:—L. trāditiōn-em, n. of action from L. trādĕre, OF. traïr, F. trahir to deliver up, betray: see tray v.2, traise v.]
1. a. The action of betraying; betrayal of the trust undertaken by or reposed in any one; breach of faith, treacherous action, treachery.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 56 Dauid..dude..treison and monsleiht on his treowe kniht Vrie, hire louerd. a 1240 Wohunge in Cott. Hom. 279 Barabas a þeof þat wið tresun..hafde a mon cwelled. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2337 Vor hii.. in trayson were cointe Þat hii ssolde þen king sle. a 1300 Cursor M. 3882 (Cott.) Qui has þou don me sli tresum? a 1340 Hampole Psalter ix. 29 Whas mouth is ful of weriynge & bitternes & treson. 13.. K. Alis. 1362 (Bodl. MS.) And he þat þe traisoun dede Was fore hakked in þat stede. c 1400 Song Roland 176 For men dred tresson wher they it finden, And thought on tresson þer trist was neuer. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xi. 43 He had done treyson, when he slogh Vry. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour lxxiv. (1906) 96 It is treson whanne a man trustithe in her [his wife] and she discouered his counsaile. 1596 Shakes. Merch V. iii. ii. 27 Vpon the racke Bassanio, then confesse What treason there is mingled with your loue. 1611 Sir W. Mure Misc. Poems i. 15 By subtil slight, or treassoune, To siege, and sack the Rampier of my ressoun. 1825 Scott Talism. i, From whom I should demand security, did I not know that treason seldom dwells with courage. |
b. treason of the clerks = trahison des clercs.
| 1940 W. Empson Gathering Storm 34 Treason of the clerks, boys, curtains that descend, Lights becoming darks, boys, waiting for the end. 1970 C. C. O'Brien Camus iii. 61 The proposition that failure to take an anti⁓communist stand constituted ‘the treason of the clerks’ of which Benda spoke. 1979 Guardian 6 June 14/7 Ex-King's men will be revealed as those whose bogus liberalism led them to ‘the treason of the clerks’. |
2. Law.
In old English law treason was either
high treason, an offence against the king's majesty or the safety of the commonwealth, or
petit or
petty treason, an offence committed against a subject. Petit treason is now punished only as murder, and high treason is usually styled simply
treason. Many acts of high treason are now treated as
treason felony.
[
1292 Britton i. ix. §1
Tresun est en chescun damage qe hom fet a escient ou procure de fere a cely a qi hom se fet ami. Et poet estre treysoun graunt et petit.]
a. high treason or
treason proper: Violation by a subject of his allegiance to his sovereign or to the state.
Defined 1350–51 by Act 25
Edw. III,
Stat. 5, c. 2, as compassing or imagining the king's death, or that of his wife or eldest son, violating the wife of the king or of the heir apparent, or the king's eldest daughter being unmarried, levying war in the king's dominions, adhering to the king's enemies in his dominions, or aiding them in or out of the realm, or killing the chancellor or the judges in the execution of their offices. In 1795 the offence was extended to actual or contemplated use of force to make the king change his counsels, or to intimidate either or both of the Houses of Parliament (but from 1848, see also
treason-felony: sense 4 b below). As a result of the Treason Act (1945), the procedure for murder was applied to treason cases.
| [1292 Britton i. ix. §2 Graunt tresoun est a compasser nostre mort, ou de nous desheriter de noster reaume, ou de fauser noster seal, ou de contrefere nostre monee ou de retoundre.] 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 10258 Yn no þyng wote y more tresun, Þan brynge þy lorde to hys felun. 1473 J. Warkworth Chron. (Camden) 5 The Lorde Hungerforde was..behedede for hye treasoune. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. iii. 93 Tell Bullingbrooke..That euery stride he makes vpon my Land, Is dangerous Treason. a 1612 Harington Epigr. iv. 5 Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it Treason. 1660 Trial Regic. 31 To stand Mute in High-Treason, is all one, as to Confess the Fact. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xvii. II. 60 A fatal maxim..that in the case of treason, which included every offence that the subtlety of lawyers could derive from an hostile intention towards the prince or republic, all privileges were suspended. 1814 Scott Wav. xli, The charge brought against you of aiding and abetting high treason. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 12 June 10/1 At present there is only one species of treason—that known as high treason, by way of contradistinction to petty treason. 1907 Verney Mem. l. 34 Sir Robert Whittingham was attainted of treason. 1911 W. B. Odgers & Odgers Comm. Law Eng. I. 145 Writing treasonable words is, no doubt a more deliberate act than merely uttering them. But..if the writings be not published, they do not constitute an overt act of treason. |
b. petit treason or
petty treason, treason against a subject;
spec. the murder of one to whom the murderer owes allegiance, as of a master by his servant, a husband by his wife, etc. Now only
Hist.| [1351–2 Rolls of Parlt. II. 239/1 Il y ad autre manere de Treison, c'est assaver quant un Servant tue son Mestre.] 1496 Ibid. VI. 513/1 An Acte to make some Offences Petty Treason. 1580 G. Harvey Let. to Spenser iv. Wks. (Grosart) I. 103 Reputing it Petty Treason to reuolt there⁓fro. 1625 Massinger New Way iii. ii, How! strike a Justice of Peace! 'Tis petty treason. 1763 Brit. Mag. IV. 273 Mary Head,..who was convicted at Chester assizes of petit treason, in killing her husband..was burnt. 1777 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 183/2 Joseph Armstrong was tried for petty treason, in poisoning his master's lady. 1828 Act 9 Geo. IV, c. 31 §2 Every Offence, which before a Commencement of this Act would have amounted to Petit Treason, shall be deemed to be Murder only. |
c. constructive treason, action which though not actually or overtly coming under any of the acts specified in the Statute of Treason, was declared by law to be treason and punishable as such.
misprision of treason: see
misprision.
| a 1714, 1769 [see constructive a. 4 b]. 1882 Lecky Eng. in 18th C. xiii. III. 522 The charge [against Lord George Gordon] was what is termed by lawyers ‘constructive treason’. It rested upon the assertion that the agitation which he had created and led was the originating cause of the outrages that had taken place. |
d. In exclamatory use (in sense 1 a or 2 a).
Cf. tray int.| 1388 Wyclif 2 Chron. xxiii. 13 Sche to-rente hir clothis, and seide, Tresouns! tresouns! [1539 Bible (Great), treason, treason.] 1470–85 Malory Arthur iv. iii. 121 They herd a grete noyse and many cryed treson, treson. Alass, said kynge Arthur, we ben bitrayed. a 1491 J. Ross Hist. Reg. Angl. (1716) 218 Sæpius se proditum clamans & dicens, Treson, Treson, Treson. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, v. ii. 72 Treason, foule Treason, Villaine, Traitor, Slaue. 1602 ― Ham. v. ii. 334 Ham. Then venome to thy worke. (Hurts the King.) All. Treason, treason. |
† 3. With
a and
pl. An act of treason, in
prec. senses; also, a species of treason. Also
fig.| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 7128 In casteles he sette garnysons ffor þe drede of oþer traysons. c 1330 ― Chron. (1810) 172 His traitour ert þou now, þou did him a tresoun. 1474 Caxton Chesse iii. iii. (1883) 95 In assemblyng the peple thus to gyder they make moo traysons in the cytees than they make good alyances. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 51 His Treasons will sit blushing in his face. 1605 M. Sutcliffe Brief Exam. 2 Manifold rebellions and treasons against their princes. a 1709 Atkyns Parl. & Pol. Tracts (1734) 23 By this means Men will be discouraged from discovering Treasons. 1708 Termes de la Ley 450 Petit Treason is a Treason of a lower degree; as if a Servant kill his Master, a Wife her Husband. |
4. attrib. and
Comb.,
as treason-charge,
treason court,
treason-law,
treason-monger,
treason-plot,
treason-tavern,
treason trial,
treason-worker;
treason-canting,
treason-hatching,
treason-haunted adjs.| 1682 Dryden's Medall To Author 26 All their *Treason-canting Priests. |
| 1900 Echo 9 Jan. 2/7, I..was then discharged on the high *treason charge. |
| 1900 Daily News 12 Nov. 5/2 At to-day's sitting of the *Treason Court, Mr. Schroeder..was released on bail. |
| 1659 Burton's Diary (1828) III. 437 Her custom was..to come into the dining-room to him in her *treason-gown, (as I called it,) I telling him, that when she had that gown on, he should allow her to say anything. |
| 1745 W. Ayre Life Pope II. 85 The sacred Character of a lurking, *treason-hatching Jesuit. |
| 1871 J. Hay Pike County Ball. (1880) 110 Its stealthy echoes pour Through *treason-haunted regions. |
| 1810 Edin. Rev. XVI. 105 The principles of *treason-law. |
| 1746 M. Hughes Jrnl. Late Reb. 5 Among all these *Treason-mongers, old Gordon, the Laird of Glenbucket is a notable Instance of Loyalty. 1839 Ld. Brougham Statesm. Geo. III, Gibbs 127 A rabble-leader or a treason-monger, a libeller or a blasphemer. |
| 1640 Yorke Union Hon. 174 That bloody and damnable *treason-plot. |
| 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. ii. 459 Og from a *treason-tavern rolling home. |
| 1930 Economist 6 Dec. 1054/2 *Treason trials are the grand elixir of revolutionary régimes; and for years the Soviet Government, like competent theatrical producers, have managed to stage a series of such performances in almost uninterrupted succession. 1979 A. Melville-Ross Two Faces of Nemesis viii. 47 Treason trials don't help the national image. |
| 1553 in Howell's St. Trials, (1809) I. 788 Then shall there be men loving themselves, covetous, proud, disobedient to parents, *treason-workers. |
b. ˈtreason-ˈfelony, an offence, formerly included among acts of treason, which by subsequent legislation has been removed from these, and is not punishable with death. So
ˈtreason-ˈfelon, one convicted of treason-felony.
Defined (though not so named) by the Crown and Government Security Act, 11 & 12
Vict. c. 12 (1848) by which treasons not directed at the person of the Sovereign were mitigated to felonies, punishable with penal servitude for life, or for a term of not less than five years.
| 1865 Annual Register 252 The Attorney General said that the Act of Parliament respecting treason-felony created several offences and these were of three descriptions. 1865 Times 29 Nov. 10/2 Counsel for the prisoner was taken by surprise in finding bills for treason-felony instead of high-treason sent up to the grand jury. 1881 R. F. Littledale in Academy 29 Jan. 75 The experiences of a treason-felon. 1892 Daily News 26 Feb. 3/1 Out of the 23 treason-felony prisoners confined in British prisons during the last ten years, one had become insane. |
▪ II. ˈtreason, v. rare.
Forms: see
prec.; also 4–5
traysen,
trassen.
[f. prec. Cf. OF. traisonner to betray.] trans. To betray; to act treasonably towards.
| 13.. K. Alis. 723 Thy fadir hastow tresond here! c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 105 Þei wer fulle wele knowen, þat wild haf tresond him. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 410 (438) To traysen [v.r. trassen] a wight þat trewe is vn-to me. 1890 L. Lewis Proving of Gennad xv. 104 Ere morning, thou shalt know who treasons thee. |