misprision
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌmɪsˈpɹɪʒn̩/
ipa: /ˌmɪsˈpɹɪʒ(ə)n/
rhymes: -ɪʒən
Forms: form: misprisions
form: missprision
Etymology: From Late Middle English misprision, mesprision (“criminal offence or illegal action, especially one committed by a public official”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman misprision, mesprision, mesprison (“criminal offence or illegal action; error, mistake, specifically an error by a court”) [and other forms] (whence Late Latin mesprisio, misprisio), and Old French mesprison, from mespris (“contempt, disdain”) (modern French mépris) + -ion (suffix indicating a condition or state). Mespris is the past participle of mesprendre (“to misunderstand”), from mes- (prefix meaning ‘badly; wrongly’) + prendre (“to take”) (from Latin prēndere, the present active infinitive of prēndō, a variant of prehendō (“to seize, take”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to find; to seize, take; to hold”)).
Senses: examples: text: [I]f any persone were perceiued to be absent, or were sene to laughe at the folye of the emperour [Nero], he was forthe with accused, as it were, of missprision: whereby the emperour founde occasion to committe him to prison or to put hym to tortures.
ref: 1531, Thomas Elyot, “In what Wise Musike may be to a Noble Man Necessarie: And what Modestie ought to be therin”, in The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC:
text: Bribery is a great miſpriſion, when any man in Judiciall place takes any Fee or Penſion, Robe, or Livery, Gift, Reward, or Brocage of any perſon, that hath to do before him any way, for doing his office, or by colour of his office, but of the King only, unleſſe it be of meat and drink, and that of ſmall value, upon divers, and grievous puniſhments.
ref: 1644, Edw[ard] Coke, “Of Bribery, Extortion, Exaction, &c. And First of Bribery.”, in The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England. […], London: […] M[iles] Flesher, for W[illiam] Lee, and D[aniel] Pakeman, →OCLC, page 145:
topics: law
glosses: Criminal neglect or wrongful execution of duty, especially by a public official; (countable) a specific instance of this.
examples: text: misprision of heresy
literal_meaning: the crime of failing to disclose heresy that one is aware of
text: Misprisions (a term derived from the old French, meſpris, a neglect or contempt) are, in the acceptation of our law, generally underſtood to be all ſuch high offences as are under the degree of capital, but nearly bordering thereon: and it is ſaid, that a miſpriſion is contained in every treaſon and felony whatſoever; and that, if the king ſo pleaſe, the offender may be proceeded againſt for the miſpriſion only. […] Miſpriſions are generally divided into two ſorts; negative, which conſiſt in the concealment of ſomething which ought to be revealed; and poſitive, which conſiſt in the commiſſion of ſomething which ought not to be done.
ref: 1769, William Blackstone, “Of Misprisions and Contempts, Affecting the King and Government”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book IV (Of Public Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 119:
text: The argument was a worthless one in law; for Eustace had been a prisoner before he was a guest, and Amyas was guilty of something very like misprision of treason in not handing him over to the nearest justice.
ref: 1855, Charles Kingsley, “How Salvation Yeo Slew the King of the Gubbings”, in Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, […], volume II, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 176:
text: Mr Borthrop Trumbull really knew nothing about old Featherstone's will; but he could hardly have been bought to declare any ignorance unless he had been arrested for misprision of treason.
ref: 1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXXII, in Middlemarch […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book III, page 161:
topics: law
glosses: In full misprision of felony or misprision of treason: originally, a less serious form of felony or treason; later, the crime of (intentionally) failing to give information about a felony or treason that one knows about; (countable) an instance of this.
examples: text: A Feuer in your blood vvhy then inciſion
 VVould let her out in Savvcers, ſvveete miſpriſon.^([sic])
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
text: What haſt thou done? Thou haſt miſtaken quite,
 And laid the loue iuice on ſome true loues ſight.
 Of thy miſpriſion, muſt perforce enſue
 Some true loue turnd, and not a falſe turnd true.
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
text: [T]hey [women] have what men call self-belief and blame you for your misprisions in their dreams, they are conspiracy theorists, benevolent dictators […]
ref: 1984, Martin Amis, Money: A Suicide Note, London: Penguin Books, published 1985, →ISBN, page 331:
glosses: Misinterpretation or misunderstanding; (countable) an instance of this; a mistake.
glosses: Incorrect or unfair suspicion; (countable) an instance of this.