felonwort (felonwert)

The bittersweet, Solanum Dulcamara: so called from its use as a remedy for whitlow. felony (fel'on-i), n.; pl. felonies (-iz). [Formerly also fellonie; Thei dide it for noon euell ne for no felon ye that the i wolde yow haue don, but pleide with yow. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 572. In this forest so fer fro peple haste me I-met a-lone, and so grete felon ye in the is roted, that thow deynest not me ones to salue. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 690. Specifically-2. In law : (a) At common law , a crime which occasions the forfeiture of land or goods, or both, and for which other punishment may be added according to the degree of guilt. It thus strictly includes treason, although the words are often used as opposed to each other. (b) A high crime; the highest of the principal cla es into which crimes are divided by statute; a grave crime exceeding the grade of misdemeanor. The present meaning of the word varies in England, and, in the United States, in various States, forfeiture of land and goods being abolished. Thus, in New York and some other States, it includes all crimes punishable with death, or with imprisonment in a state-prison. 3t. A body of felons. - Capital felony. See capital offense , under cap it all . Treason Felony Act, an English statute of 1848 (11 and 12 Vict., c. 12) extending previous laws for the punishment of offenses against the royal famlar offenses IMG:content-1203.png:[blocks in formation] It is neither a rich patrician's shooe that cureth the gout in the feet, nor a costly and precious ring that healeth the whitlaw or felon in the fingers. Holland, tr. of Plutarch, p. 120. (b) A sort of inflammation in quadrupeds, similar to whitlow in man.