Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- Law. a person who has committed a felony.
- Archaic. a wicked person.
adjective
- Archaic. wicked; malicious; treacherous.
noun
- an acute and painful inflammation of the deeper tissues of a finger or toe, usually near the nail: a form of whitlow.
noun
- criminal law (formerly) a person who has committed a felony
- obsolete a wicked person
adjective
- archaic, or poetic evil; cruel
noun
- a purulent inflammation of the end joint of a finger, sometimes affecting the bone
late 13c., from Old French felon “evil-doer, scoundrel, traitor, rebel, the Devil” (9c.), from Medieval Latin fellonem (nominative fello) “evil-doer,” of uncertain origin, perhaps from Frankish *fillo, *filljo “person who whips or beats, scourger” (cf. Old High German fillen “to whip”); or from Latin fel “gall, poison,” on the notion of “one full of bitterness.”
Another theory (advanced by Professor R. Atkinson of Dublin) traces it to Latin fellare “to suck” (see fecund), which had an obscene secondary meaning in classical Latin (well-known to readers of Martial and Catullus), which would make a felon etymologically a “cock-sucker.” OED inclines toward the “gall” explanation, but finds Atkinson’s “most plausible” of the others.
n.
- A purulent infection or abscess involving the bulbous distal end of a finger.whitlow