| 释义 |
malefactor|ˈmælɪfæktə(r)|
Also 5 malfacteur, 5–7 malefactour, 6 mallefactore. Cf. malfetour.
[a. L. malefactor, agent-n. f. malefacĕre: see malefact.]
1. One guilty of a heinous offence against the law; a felon, a criminal.
c1440Gesta Rom. i. xvi. 56 (Add. MS.) Anon thei entred the forest and sone the malefactours mette hem. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) I. 16 He dyde iustyce on malfacteurs. 1582Bible (Rheims) Luke xxiii. 32 And there were led also other two malefactours with him, to be executed. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xvi. 17 The great place..wher the malefactors are punished. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. v. 53. 1649 Bp. Reynolds Hosea iv. 88 Leade them forth..as..malefactours to execution. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. iii, A Malefactor, who has the Halter about his Neck. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 27 For the most atrocious crimes..the malefactor is broken upon the wheel. 1862H. Spencer First Princ. ii. xix. §153 (1875) 421 By a malefactor, we now understand a convicted criminal, which is far from being the acceptation of evil-doer.
transf.1693Dryden Juvenal vi. (1697) 144 If their Barking Dog disturb her ease..Th'unmanner'd Malefactor is arraign'd. 1697― Virg. Georg. ii. 523 For this the Malefactor Goat was laid On Bacchus' Altar, and his Forfeit paid.
2. An evil-doer; one who does ill towards another; esp. in antithesis with benefactor.
1483Caxton Cato G vj, Hit is better that the malefactour juge hym selfe than that another shold juge hym. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. i. 52 Benefactors? Well: What Benefactors are they? Are they not Malefactors? 1634W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. I) 45 God..doth sometimes punish Malefactors, without observing the formes of justice. 1655Fuller Hist. Camb. v. §19 margin, King Edward the fourth a malefactour to this Colledge. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. xi. (1792) II. 121 Goodman Warmhouse..rode much at his ease by the chariot of his malefactor. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Considerations Wks. (Bohn) II. 414 Mankind divides itself into two classes,—benefactors and malefactors. 1864Pusey Lect. Daniel vi. 296 That later king, who..was called from his deeds, Kakergetes, ‘malefactor’. |