felon
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: simple
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”).
Etymology 1, adjective 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 felón (adjective, noun)
Inflected forms:
form: felons
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Of a person or animal, their actions, thoughts, etc.: brutal, cruel, harsh, heartless; also, evil, wicked.
pos: adj
tags: poetic
examples: For Courteſies, tho' undeſerv'd and great, / No gratitude in Fellon-minds beget, / As tribute to his VVit, the churl receives the treat.
And tvventy youths in radiant mail incas'd, / Cloſe ambuſh'd nigh the ſpacious hall he plac'd. / Then bids prepare the hoſpitable treat: / Vain ſhevvs of love to veil his felon hate!
Nor outvvard Tempeſt, nor corroſive Time, / Nought but the felon undermining Hand / Of dark Corruption, can it's Frame diſſolve, / And lay the Toil of Ages in the duſt.
Yes, Leila sleeps beneath the wave, / But his shall be a redder grave; / Her spirit pointed well the steel / Which taught that felon heart to feel.
gloss: Of a place: harsh, savage, wild; of a thing: deadly; harmful.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
examples: He ask'd the VVaves, and ask'd the Fellon vvinds, / VVhat hard miſhap hath doom'd this gentle ſvvain?
Thus often unbelief grovvn ſick of life, / Flies to the tempting pool or felon knife, / The jury meet, the coroner is ſhort, / And lunacy the verdict of the court: […]
The hand that mingled in the meal, / At midnight drew the felon steel, / And gave the host's kind breast to feel / Meed for his hospitality!
gloss: Obtained through a felony; stolen.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
rare
examples: Thus hee that conquer’d men, and beaſt moſt cruell, / (VVhoſe greedy pavves, vvith fellon goods vvere found) / Anſvver’d Goliah’s challenge in a duell, / And layd the Giant groveling on the ground: […]
gloss: A person who has committed a felony (“a serious criminal offence”); specifically, one who has been tried and convicted of such a crime.
pos: noun
examples: I doe defie thy coniurations: / And doe attach thee as a fellon heere.
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.
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, […]
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.
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.
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.
gloss: An evil or wicked person.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: 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.
The master'd felon press'd the ground, / And gasp'd beneath a mortal wound, / While o'er him stands the Bruce.
gloss: A predatory animal regarded as cruel or wicked.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
obsolete
Related words: felonize
felony
Derived words: defelonize
feloness
felonious
feloniousness
felonish
felonly
felonous
felonously
felonry
felon-setter
felon-setting
felonwood
felonwort
Negro Felon League
Nigger Felon League
Translations: