Theadjective is derived fromMiddle Englishfeloun,felun(“base, wicked;hostile; of an animal: dangerous; of words: angry, harsh, slanderous; of things: dangerous, deadly; false, fraudulent; unlucky”)[and other forms],[1] fromOld Frenchfelon(“bad, evil, immoral”) (comparefel(“evil; despicable, vile”)), fromEarly Medieval Latinfellōnem; further etymology uncertain.
Doublet offell (“of a strong and cruel nature; fierce; grim; ruthless, savage”).
Sense 3 (“obtained through a felony”) is derived from the noun.
Thenoun is derived fromMiddle Englishfeloun,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],[2] fromfeloun,felun(adjective): see above.
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 hisfelon hate!
Nor outvvard Tempeſt, nor corroſive Time, / Nought but thefelon undermining Hand / Of darkCorruption, can it's Frame diſſolve, / And lay the Toil of Ages in the duſt.
Thus often unbelief grovvn ſick of life, / Flies to the tempting pool orfelon knife, / The jury meet, the coroner is ſhort, / And lunacy the verdict of the court:[…]
Thus hee that conquer’d men, and beaſt moſt cruell, / (VVhoſe greedy pavves, vvithfellon goods vvere found) / Anſvver’dGoliah’s challenge in a duell, / And layd the Giant groveling on the ground:[…]
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And therefore they are but like theFellon 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 makesfelons 'ſcape, / Leſs human genius than God gives an ape, / Small thanks toFrance, and none toRome orGreece, / 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 offelons 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 thefelons were trying the honest men.
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[…], published1878,→OCLC,pages83–84:
Thefelon 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.
1697,Virgil, “The Sixth Book of theÆneis”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis.[…], London:[…]Jacob Tonson,[…],→OCLC,page386, lines801–804:
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 flamingFelon ſtrook.
Referring toLucifer who was cast out of heaven by God.
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, September 2023;“felon2,n.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
felony on Wikipedia.Wikipedia