/ˈfɛlən/
OriginFrom Middle English feloun, felone (“type of carbuncle or sore with pus; swelling on a hawk’s body”), possibly from Old French *felon, from Latin fel (“bile, gall; bitterness; poison; venom”): see etymology 1.
- poeticOf a person or animal, their actions, thoughts, etc.: brutal, cruel, harsh, heartless; also, evil, wicked.
“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.”
- broadlyOf a place: harsh, savage, wild; of a thing: deadly; harmful.
“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!”
- obsolete, rareObtained through a felony; stolen.
“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: […”
- A person who has committed a felony (“serious criminal offence”); specifically, one who has been tried and convicted of such a crime.
“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 deteſ”
“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, ”
- obsoleteAn evil or wicked person; also (by extension) a predatory animal regarded as cruel or wicked.
“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.”
- A small infected sore; an abscess, a boil; specifically, a whitlow (“infection near or under the cuticle of a fingernail or toenail”).
“He hev been away from home for a few days, since he's had that felon upon his finger; for a' said, since I can't work I'll have a hollerday.”
Formsfelons(plural)