felon
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: fĕlʹən
ipa: /ˈfɛlən/
rhymes: -ɛlən
Forms: form: felons
Etymology: The adjective is derived from Middle English feloun, felun (“base, wicked; hostile; of an animal: dangerous; of words: angry, harsh, slanderous; of things: dangerous, deadly; false, fraudulent; unlucky”) [and other forms], from Old French felon (“bad, evil, immoral”) (compare fel (“evil; despicable, vile”)), from Early Medieval Latin fellōnem; further etymology uncertain.
Doublet of fell (“of a strong and cruel nature; fierce; grim; ruthless, savage”).
Sense 3 (“obtained through a felony”) is derived from the noun.
The noun is derived from Middle English feloun, felun (“criminal, specifically one who has committed a felony, felon; cruel, hostile, violent, etc., person; deceiver; evildoer, monster, sinner; traitor; bold or fierce warrior; deceit, falseness; wickedness, wrongdoing; treachery”) [and other forms], from feloun, felun (adjective): see above.
Cognates
* Catalan felló (adjective)
* French félon (adjective, noun)
* Italian fellone (adjective, noun)
* Occitan felon, felhon, fellon (adjective)
* Spanish fellon (adjective, noun)
Senses: examples: text: I doe defie thy coniurations: / And doe attach thee as a fellon heere.
ref: c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, published 1597, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], signature K, verso:
text: And therefore they are but like the Fellon that ſtandeth before the Judge, he quakes and trembles, and ſeems to repent most heartily; but the bottom of all is, the fear of the Halter, not of any deteſtation of the offence; as is evident, becauſe, let but this man have his liberty, and he vvill be a Thief, and ſo a Rogue still, vvhereas, if his mind vvas changed, he vvould be othervviſe.
ref: 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, pages 215–216:
text: Hovv, vvith leſs reading than makes felons 'ſcape, / Leſs human genius than God gives an ape, / Small thanks to France, and none to Rome or Greece, / A paſt, vamp'd, future, old, reviv'd, novv piece, […]
ref: 1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the First”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC, page 13, lines 225–228:
text: If the diſguſting detail of the accumulated inſults vve have received, in vvhat vve have very properly called our "ſolicitation," to a gang of felons and murderers, had been produced as a proof of the utter inefficacy of that mode of proceeding vvith that deſcription of perſons, I ſhould have nothing at all to object to it.
ref: 1797, Edmund Burke, “Letter III.”, in A Third Letter to a Member of the Present Parliament, on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France, London: […] F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […]; sold also by J[ohn] Hatchard, […], →OCLC, page 3:
text: Looking at the Jury and the turbulent audience, he might have thought that the usual order of things was reversed, and that the felons were trying the honest men.
ref: 1859, Charles Dickens, “Triumph”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III (The Track of a Storm), pages 189–190:
text: The felon is the logical extreme of the epicure and coxcomb. Selfish luxury is the end of both, though in one it is decorated with refinements, and in the other brutal. But my point now is, that this spirit is not American.
ref: 1878 March 30, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic. Lecture Delivered at the Old South Church, March 30, 1878, Boston, Mass.: Houghton, Osgood and Company […], published 1878, →OCLC, pages 83–84:
qualifier: criminal law
glosses: A person who has committed a felony (“serious criminal offence”); specifically, one who has been tried and convicted of such a crime.
examples: text: But he, the King of Heav'n, obſcure on high, / Bar'd his red Arm, and launching from the Sky / His vvrithen Bolt, not ſhaking empty Smoak, / Dovvn to the deep Abyſs the flaming Felon ſtrook.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 386, lines 801–804:
text: The master'd felon press'd the ground, / And gasp'd beneath a mortal wound, / While o'er him stands the Bruce.
ref: 1815, Walter Scott, “Canto Third”, in The Lord of the Isles, a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza XXIX, page 119:
glosses: An evil or wicked person; also (by extension) a predatory animal regarded as cruel or wicked.
Hypernyms: sense: one who has committed a felony
word: criminal
sense: one who has committed a felony; if convicted
word: convict
sense: one who has committed a felony
word: culprit
sense: one who has committed a felony
word: malefactor
Derived terms: word: defelonize
word: feloness
word: felonious
word: feloniousness
word: felonish
word: felonly
word: felonous
word: felonously
word: felonry
word: felonwood
word: felonwort
Related terms: felonize
felony