▪ I. felony, n.1
(ˈfɛlənɪ)
Forms: 3 feluni(e, felonnie, (felun(n)e, -i, 4 felunnye), 3–5 felonny(e, 3–7 feloni(e, -ye, 4 felone, -ounie, -y, -owny, 6–7 fellony, 3– felony.
[ad. Fr. felonie = Pr. fellonia, felnia, feunia, Sp. felonia, It. fellonia:—Com. Romanic *felloˈnia, f. fellone felon; see -y.]
† 1. a. Villany, wickedness, baseness. Obs.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 31/75 Ake ȝut for al is felonie, ne bi-lefde ore louerd nouȝt Þat [etc.]. c 1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 1003 With gret felonie and with wouhgh. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 317, I shall..tellen hem thy felonie. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxiii. 496 He hathe well shewed atte this tyme a grete parte of his grete felony. |
† b. Anger, wrath. Obs. After OF. in which it is very common.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 62/299 For ore louerd euenede himsulf to a tomb..And for it is with-oute felonie, and milde ase ihesu crist. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 440 Fra his presence went in hy, For he dred sayr his felouny. 1485 Caxton Paris & V. (1868) 38 Sodeynly the doulphyn was moeued in grete felonnye. 1513 Douglas æneis x. viii. 100 Turnus smyttin full of fellony. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxxvi. 510 So moche rose the felony of the romayns y{supt} suche as were next to y⊇ conclaue..brake vp the dore of the conclaue. |
† c. Daring, recklessness. Obs.
| 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 109 The admyrall bygan to lawhe for felonnye. |
† 2. Guile, deceit, treachery, perfidy. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 1446 He biþoȝte him of felonie. c 1325 Coer de L. 4047 The Sarezynes, for felounie, Soone senten out a spie, That hadde be Crystene in hys youthe. c 1400 Beryn 1169 She hid so hir felony, & spak so in covert. c 1477 Caxton Jason 78 He ansuerde to him with a mouthe ful of felonnye that [etc.]. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon ii. 4 Whan by hys felony he slew Baudouyn. |
† 3. A crime, misdeed, sin. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 16852 (Gött.) Ioseph..of arimathie, Ne grantted neuer wid will ne werk, to þaire gret felune. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 205 Þe fyrste felonye þe falce fende wroȝt. c 1400 Prymer 63 Schewe to me my felonyes & trespassis! 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. vii. 5 She..lamentably recounted to hym all the felonyes and iniuries done to her. |
4. Law. a. (Feudal Law.) An act on the part of a vassal which involved the forfeiture of his fee.
| [1292 Britton i. vi. §3 Volums, que lour terres alienez puis lour felonies fetes soint eschetes as seignurages des feez.] c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 207 Somond haf þei Jon, to Philip courte him dede, To tak his Jugement of þat felonie [MS. felonse; rime-word Bretaynie]. 1480 Caxton Cron. Eng. cxciii. 169 Or els the man..shold be falsely endyted of forest or of felonye. 1846 McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 471 The term felony..seems..to have originally signified the act or offence by which an estate or fief was forfeited and escheated to the lord. |
b. (Common and Statute Law.) Formerly the general name for a class of crimes which may loosely be said to be regarded by the law as of a graver character than those called misdemeanours. No longer differentiated from misdemeanour (see quot. 1967).
The class comprises those offences the penalty of which formerly included forfeiture of lands and goods, and corruption of blood, together with others that have been added to the list by statute. (But see quot. 1883.) Properly including treason, but often used in opposition to it.
| [1292 Britton i. ii. §10 Si la felonie eyt esté fete hors de mesoun.] 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 1310 Sle no man wyþ þyn honde Wyþ outyn iustyce, for felonye. 1472 in Surtees Misc. (1890) 24 Thomas Dransfeld is a theef and has knowelach felony. 1531 Dial. on Laws Eng. i. viii. (1638) 18 If a man steal goods to the value of twelve pence or above, it is felony. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 64 b, I have accused this man of felonie because he tooke my pursse by the high waie side. 1621 H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) 113 Wemen convicted of small felonyes. a 1633 Austin Medit. (1635) 191 His [St. John Baptist's] Imprisonment..was neither for Felony, nor Treason, but for being witnesse to the Truth. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. iii. (1840) 84 He committed a felony even with his fetters on. 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. 94 Felony..comprizes every species of crime, which occasioned at common law the forfeiture of lands or goods. 1773 Brydone Sicily vi. (1809) 67 Happy it is that poetical theft is no felony. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 118 It was made felony in the reign of Edward the Third to steal a hawk. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. i, All means short of felony. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Wealth Wks. (Bohn) II. 73 The rights of property nothing but felony and treason can override. 1883 J. F. Stephen Hist. Criminal Law II. 192 It is usually said that felony means a crime which involved the punishment of forfeiture, but this definition would be too large, for it would include misprision of treason, which is a misdemeanour. 1967 Act Eliz. II c. 58 Criminal Law Act. An Act to amend the law of England and Wales by abolishing the division of crimes into felonies and misdemeanours. |
| transf. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xv. 43 Such intellectual felony. 1859 Smiles Self-Help x. (1860) 22 The acquisition of knowledge may protect a man against the meaner felonies of life. |
c. felony-de-se: an action or instance in which a person is ‘felo-de-se’. Cf. felo-de-se 2.
| 1822 Byron Vis. Judgm. xciv, Quite a poetic felony ‘de se.’ 1835 Hood Dead Robbery i, P'rhaps, of all the felonies de se..Two-thirds have been through want of l. s. d.! |
▪ II. † ˈfelony, n.2 Obs. rare—1.
[a. F. felonie (16th c.), f. felon of same meaning (see Cotgr.).]
Cholera.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. lxxiv. 246 The cholerique passion otherwise called the felonie [Fr. la colerique passion aultrement dicte felonie], that is, when one doth vomit continually. |
▪ III. † ˈfelony, v. Obs. rare—1.
[f. felony n.1]
trans. ? To perpetrate feloniously.
| 1502 Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) iv. xxi. 250 All domages and oppressyons the whiche by defaute of correccyon ben felonyed. |