crimen.

Brit.

/krʌɪm/, U.S.

/kraɪm/

Forms: Middle English crym, Middle English–1600s cryme, Middle English– crime; Scottish pre-1700 chryme, pre-1700 1700s cryme, pre-1700 1700s– crime.

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French crime.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French crime (French crime ) sin, wrongdoing, criminal act (12th cent.; in Middle French also accusation (15th cent.)) < classical Latin crīmen charge, accusation, matter for accusation or blame, reproach, offence, misdeed, in post-classical Latin also sin (late 2nd or early 3rd cent. in Tertullian) < the base of cernere cern v.¹ + -men (see -ment suffix). Compare Old Occitan crim, Catalan crim (13th cent.), Spanish crimen (13th cent.), †crim (14th cent.), Portuguese crime (13th cent.), Italian crimine (a1306).

†a. Sin; sinfulness; wrongdoing. Chiefly poetic in later use. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > evildoing or wrongdoing > [noun]

sinc825

naughteOE

unnuteOE

sinningc1000

unrightOE

un-i-selthlOE

wonder1154

misguiltc1200

misdoinga1225

teeninga1225

miss?c1225

crimec1250

misdeed?c1250

wickednessa1300

mischiefa1387

evil-doing1398

mistakinga1400

perpetrationc1429

wrongingc1449

maledictionc1475

maleficence1533

wicked-doing1535

foul play1546

misdealing1571

flagition1598

delinquency1603

malefaction1604

meschancy1609

malefacture1635

misacting1651

guilt1726

flagitiosity1727

malpractice1739

malfeasance1856

peccation1861

miscreance1972

c1250 in Englische Studien (1935) 70 234 Þe smet [read smec] was iwonken of ure heuene kinke; þat ofþutte Cayme, þe fule niþincke.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Titus i. 6 If ony man is withouten cryme, or greet synne [L. sine crimine].

1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Norbert (1977) l. 2455 He holid him both fro langour & fro cryme.

a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 74 (MED) No man may lyve withoute cryme.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. xii. sig. Bb Whilest louing thou mayst loued be with equall crime.

1625 Psalme of Mercy 258 Gods mercy is not restrained, either by the enormity of Crime, or extremity of time.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 79 One next himself in power, and next in crime .

1740 S. Richardson Pamela I. xxxi. 250 I will be innocent of Crime in my Intention, and in the Sight of God.

1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab vi. 74 Crime and misery are in yonder earth, Falsehood, mistake, and lust.

1892 D. Sigerson in Irish Monthly 20 211 To a heart's despair sin scarce seems sin—When hope dies out, maybe crime steals in.

b. An evil or injurious act; an offence, a sin; esp. of a grave character.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > wrongful deed > [noun]

misdeedeOE

guilt971

evilOE

follya1275

trespassc1290

errorc1330

illa1340

untetchea1375

offencec1384

crimec1390

forfeit1393

faultc1400

demerit1485

disorder1581

misfeasancea1626

misactiona1667

trespassage1874

society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > evildoing or wrongdoing > [noun] > an evil deed > an evil deed, fault, or offence

sinc825

guilt971

man deedOE

evilOE

misbodea1200

follya1275

unthrift1303

misbreydec1380

offencec1384

crimec1390

forfeit1393

felonya1400

faultc1400

misfeatc1400

feat1481

demerit1485

misdemeanoura1513

facta1533

piaculum1575

miscarriage1579

delinquishment1593

delinquency1603

piacle1644

amissness1648

peccancy1648

c1390 in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) i. 86 (MED) Heil Modur of Sone i-blest, Þorwh whom dyliuered beone Þei þat wiþ crymes ben opprest.

?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 30^v A Cryme,..vbi trespas or syn.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. PPPiii^v All the crymes of the tonge, as sclaunders..and priuey backbytynges.

1577 M. Hanmer tr. Socrates Scholasticus ii. xiii, in Aunc. Eccl. Hist. 261 All such crymes as Athanasius was charged withall, were meere false.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) v. ii. 28 If you bethinke your selfe of any crime, Vnreconcil'd as yet to heauen and grace.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 214 That with reiterated crimes he might Heap on himself damnation.

1706 J. Addison Rosamond i. i 'Tis her crime to be loved, 'Tis her crime to have charms.

1768 H. Brooke Fool of Quality III. 220 I held myself as the Refugee Jonas, whose Crimes brought Perdition on all in the Vessel.

1842 E. Miall in Nonconformist 2 1 If in future we should go astray, we can plead no excuse in extenuation of the crime.

1887 M. Burt Browning's Women 52 Unforgivingness beyond a certain limit is a base crime.

1926 in R. P. Arnot Gen. Strike 233 The..decision to call off the General Strike is the greatest crime that has ever been permitted..against the working class.

1969 R. Howard Untitled Subj. 64 The worst crimes of all are committed in the home, that sanctuary out of the law's reach.

2007 A. Theroux Laura Warholic xxxiii. 518 Blaise Pascal, repenting the pollutions of his sensual youth,..came to deem even his own mother's kiss a crime.

c. In weakened use: a shameful or regrettable act; an unfortunate situation; a bad thing.In later use influenced by sense 2.

ΚΠ

1636 R. Baker tr. Cato Variegatus 53 To let Time slip, is a recurelesse crime. You may have Time againe; but not the Time.

1697 J. Vanbrugh Provok'd Wife i. 5 You have given me so many proofs of your Friendship, that my reserve has been indeed a Crime.

a1797 H. Walpole Mem. George II (1847) III. i. 19 Those, who, two years ago, lay under the irremissible crime of being Tories.

1832 P. Egan Bk. Sports 346/1 A free slashing hitter, who holds it a crime To get any less than six runs a time.

1898 Westm. Gaz. 24 Nov. 3/2 Inconsequent trimmings, that have no raison d'être, are well known to be the crime of the third-rate dressmaker.

1912 E. Ferber Buttered Side Down viii. 140 The wall-paper was a crime. It represented an army of tan mustard plasters climbing up a chocolate-fudge wall.

2003 V. O. Carter Such Sweet Thunder 178 Doin' any and ever'thin' they say, workin' Sund'ys, workin' nights—for twelve lousy dollars a week! It's a crime!

a. An act or omission constituting an offence (usually a grave one) against an individual or the state and punishable by law.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > [noun]

unrightOE

witec1175

misbodea1200

misguiltc1200

misdoinga1225

miss?c1225

trespassinga1340

forfeiturec1380

offensiona1382

crimec1384

abusion?1387

evil-doing1398

mistakinga1400

offendinga1425

transgression1426

wrongingc1449

digression1517

digressinga1535

transgressing1535

swerving1545

misdealing1571

transgress1578

misfaring1595

misacting1651

malpractice1739

malfeasance1856

wrongdoing1874

miscreance1972

society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime > a crime

crimec1384

broke1481

facta1533

malefact1534

penalty1579

malefaction1604

malefacture1635

job1679

offence1683

criminality1750

operationa1902

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Deeds xxiii. 29 Hauynge no cryme [L. nihil criminis] worthi the deeth, or bondis.

?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 191 Ȝif the kyng himself do ony homycydie or ony cryme, as to sle a man..he schall dye þerefore.

?1449 Petition in Rotuli Parl. (1767–77) V. 156/2 And he be founde faillyng therinne, he shall not oonly renne into the crime of Perjurie, but be put oute of his office.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) Acts xxv. 16 The Cryme wher of he is accused.

1574 J. Baret Aluearie C 345 To be charged, or conuinced in manie crymes.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iii. vi. 82 If by this Crime, he owes the Law his life.

1675 Sir L. Jenkins in Life II. 714 Every Man, by the Usage of our European Nations, is justiciable in the Place where the Crime is committed.

1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. i. vi. 100 Ingratitude is among them a capital Crime, as we read it to have been in some other Countries.

1769 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. IV. 5 A crime, or misdemeanor, is an act committed, or omitted, in violation of a public law.

1809 J. Adams Let. 9 Jan. (1854) IX. 316 The impressment of seamen..is..a crime punishable with death by all civilized nations.

1867 Manch. Examiner 10 Oct. With the moralist bribery is a sin; with the legislator a crime.

1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 4/1 If a person were accused of a crime and seemed likely to be indicted.

1959 F. Sondern Brotherhood of Evil iv. 60 Sicilians who had left their country to avoid punishment for crimes they had committed there.

2004 H. Kennedy Just Law (2005) i. 28 Judith Ward was also convicted of crimes she did not commit.

b. Such acts collectively; breaking of the law.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime

crime1485

game1739

work1762

heel1911

1485 W. Caxton tr. Lyf St. Wenefryde sig. a iii O thou wycked man whiche hast..slayn by cryme as an homycyde this noble vyrgyn.

1533 Fabyans Cronycle (new ed.) II. f. ccxxviii None myght lyue that thou accused of cryme.

1576 G. Pettie Petite Pallace 9 Seing in al degrees of freind ship, equality is cheefly considered, I trust you will clere me of crime that way.

1622 F. Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII 196 It was neither guilt of Crime, nor reason of State, that could quench the Enuie that was vpon the King for this Execution.

1670 T. Blount Resol. Jvdges Statutes Bankrupts 49 The High-Commissioners cannot extend themselves but only to Crime.

1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World II. 38 I was imprisoned, though a stranger to crime.

1769 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. IV. 94 Felony..comprizes every species of crime, which occasioned at common law the forfeiture of lands or goods.

1833 Times 21 Aug. 4/5 Here was ample cause to account for the increase of crime.

1879 J. A. Froude Cæsar viii. 72 Others came, like Sergius Catiline.., men steeped in crime.

1932 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 10 Jan. 17/3 A gangster who calls himself Napoleon and who goes in for crime in a big way.

1969 R. Salerno & J. S. Tompkins Crime Confederation 203 The profits of crime are untaxed.

2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane vi. 130 Before long, they had joined a street gang and found themselves embroiled in a life of crime.

†3. A charge; an accusation. In quot. c1384: cause for accusation. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > administration of justice > general proceedings > accusation, allegation, or indictment > [noun] > a charge, accusation, or allegation

crimec1384

calla1400

allegation1402

advocacya1413

allegeancea1430

objection1440

surmise1451

charge1477

ditement1502

crimination1534

allegement1594

appeach1628

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Macc. ix. 10 Ȝif oure tyme hath neiȝid, dye we in vertu of oure bretheren, and ȝeue we not cryme [L. crimen] to oure glorie.

c1405 (c1380) G. Chaucer Second Nun's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 455 For we bere a cristen name Ye putte on vs a cryme & eek a blame.

a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Merlin (1904) I. l. 1326 Ȝif j delyvere my modir of this cryme anon, schal sche thanne ony more jn warde be?

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Siii To whome they byeng moste innocent hath ben put the cryme of fornicacion.

1562 T. Cooper Answere Def. Truth f. 101^v, in Apol. Priuate Masse The same crimes may bee more iustly retourned to your selfe and yours.

1603 A. Willet Retection 156 Chrysostome saith, that hee which raiseth a crime against his brother, doth as it were eate his brothers flesh.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 1181 I rue That errour now, which is become my crime, And thou th' accuser.

1721 G. Jacob Treat. Laws ii. 250 A cross Accusation is, when one that is accused, retorts the same Crime upon the Accuser.

1819 P. B. Shelley Rosalind & Helen 29 All present who these crimes did hear..slunk away.

Phrases

P1. crime against humanity: an immoral or destructive act; spec. (in later use) an unlawful act which causes human suffering or death on a large scale.Crimes against humanity became an established part of international law for the first time when used in the Charter for the Nuremberg Tribunal (August 1945), defined therein (Article 6(c)) as: ‘murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war, or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated.’

ΚΠ

1673 R. Baxter Christian Directory iv. xxv. 166 Be faithful to your friend that doth entrust you; remembring that perfidiousness or falseness to a friend, is a crime against humanity, and all society.

1800 Coll. State Papers War against France IX. 37 It is an outrage of the rights of nations, a crime against humanity, and a heinous offence committed against the French Republic.

1878 N. Amer. Rev. Mar. 266 That this crime against humanity [sc. slavery]..should be denationalized.

1948 Times 27 Nov. 5/5 If, on the basis of the evidence adduced or adduceable, these men are responsible for perpetrating crimes against humanity, [etc.].

1973 L. Ginsberg Let. 22 Dec. in A. Ginsberg & L. Ginsberg Family Business (2001) 351 He is riddled by Christian anti-Semitism... What crimes against humanity has Israel engaged in, according to Berrigan? It has treated Arabs well & attempted to integrate them into the body politic.

2003 Philadelphia Inquirer 16 May a4/5 Eliezer Niyitegeka was found guilty of six counts of genocide and crimes against humanity, a spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda said.

P2. crime against nature: an act considered contrary to the preferred or accepted norms or values of a society, esp. an act perceived as sexually deviant (and sometimes legally defined as such). [Probably originally after French crime contre nature (1667 in the passage translated in quot. 1683).]

ΚΠ

1683 J. Bulteel tr. F. E. de Mézeray Gen. Chronol. Hist. France ii. 412 He was burnt alive for a crime against nature; and this was a Bon-fire to the People, whom he had most horribly vexed and abused.

1712 J. Gardiner Pract. Expos. Beatitudes vi. 165 Fornication, Adultery, and that horrid Crime against Nature, not fit to be named.

1799 A. Plumptre tr. A. von Kotzebue La-Peyrouse ii. iii. 24 Your union began with a crime against nature.

1815 W. Johnson Rep. Supreme Court N.-Y. 11 38 He would give in evidence that the plaintiff..committed the detestable crime against nature on a certain beast called a cow.

1859 Times 9 Nov. 8/3 It is no less a crime against nature and against all human affections.

1949 Jrnl. Criminal Law & Criminol. 40 188 Whenever a defendant has been adjudged guilty of either a crime against nature, rape, or crime against children,..the court is then ordered not to impose sentence on the defendant until..a determination is made as to whether the defendant is a sexually dangerous person.

2003 A. Franken Lies xxx. 252 Many people think of anti-miscegenation laws as being the same as segregation, but they're not. Miscegenation is about the ‘mongrelization’ of the white race, which to this day is considered by some to be a crime against nature.

P3. crime against peace: an act of lawlessness or violence, (now) spec. an act of war considered to be in violation of international law, esp. of the Charter for the Nuremberg Tribunal.Article 6(a) of the August 1945 Charter for the Nuremberg Tribunal defines crimes against peace as ‘planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing.’

ΚΠ

1851 Christian Rev. Apr. 265 There may be, there are, crimes against peace and order, and there must be laws and constabulary forces for the lawless and disturbers of the peace.

1898 Boston Globe 23 Apr. 7/6 He..places under martial law all those who are guilty of treason, espionage, crimes against peace or against the independence of the nation.

1945 Times 9 Aug. 4/6 With greater precision than ever before, ‘crimes against peace’ are set down.

1986 M. G. Raskin Common Good 212 Under the language of the Charter of Nuremberg, strategies such as counterforce..could be classified either as crimes against humanity or crimes against peace.

2007 M. Cohn Cowboy Republic i. 9 The evidence indicates that the U.S.-led invasion..is therefore a war of aggression, which constitutes a crime against peace.

P4. crime doesn't pay and variants: punishment rather than profit or advantage is the ultimate consequence of crime.

ΚΠ

1860 Law Mag. & Law Rev. 8 89 In these hours of solitude he is led, perhaps for the first time in his life, to wholesome reflection. His earliest thought will probably be that crime does not pay.

1892 Catholic World Dec. 364 Our laws are so made and executed as to prove that crime doesn't pay.

1937 Rotarian Feb. 61/1 Some of them go to the point of carrying a line, ‘Crime Never Pays’, at the head of every news article telling about the arrest and punishment of a criminal.

1969 R. Salerno & J. S. Tompkins Crime Confederation 94 Society's official message has been: Crime Does Not Pay.

2001 J. A. Schwarcz Genie in Bottle 187 Trepal spent two years in jail for that crime, but he failed to learn that crime doesn't pay.

Compounds

C1. Objective, instrumental, etc., as crime-promoting, crime-ridden, crime-stained, etc., adjs.; also crime-preventer.

ΚΠ

1801 W. Winstanley Hypocrite Unmask'd v. 83 The lightest punishment your crime-stained heart can suffer.

1823 J. S. Mill Autobiogr. (1924) 273 The Catholic priesthood added..the crime-promoting doctrine of indulgences.

1859 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 1858 President's Addr. p. civ One crime-preventer hangs the man, another trains the boy.

1873 Times 1 July 6/4 Ireland was a most crime-ridden country.

1886 A. D. Ainslie Reynard the Fox i. 2 The rascal Reynard, crime-bestained.

1898 Westm. Gaz. 14 July 2/1 She wondered..what manner of hideous crime-stained countenance that paper hid.

1947 Times 2 Apr. 3/4 This [sc. Burma], the most crime-loving country in Asia.

1960 L. T. Wilkins Delinquent Generations 1 Children born during the war might be more crime-prone than others.

2005 V. Lougheed Belize 51 In the past, Belize City was considered a dangerous and crime-riddled place.

C2.

a. General attributive, as crime baron, crime reduction, crime report, crime treatment, etc.

ΚΠ

1857 R. Fletcher Eng. & her Colonies 107 Education, sex, origin..are all-important classifications in connection with crime treatment.

1882 Aberdeen Weekly Jrml. 10 June 5/4 It appears from crime reports..there had been a murder on the estate.

1888 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 26 Apr. 4/5 Crime in Ireland decreased from 2597..to 836 cases,..a crime reduction of 78 per cent.

1906 Daily Chron. 26 May 7/5 One of the most remarkable crime-mysteries which have occupied the attention of the London police for some years.

1928 Cent. Mag. May 117/1 They point to our slums, our hold-ups, our murders and general crime record.

1934 D. Thomas Let. 2 May (1987) 122 I want to read the crime page in the Telegraph.

1952 J. Lait & L. Mortimer U.S.A. Confidential i. iii. 13 A loosely organized group of interlocking enterprises which we shall call the Crime Cartel.

1988 J. Ellroy Big Nowhere vii. 75 One battered cabinet held the..West Hollywood crime reports, complaint reports, arrest reports and trouble call sheets.

2006 Daily Tel. 17 May 18/5 Diplomats and analysts say that large parts of the Bulgarian economy are controlled by crime-barons.

b. attributive designating books, films, etc., having crime as their theme, as crime drama, crime film, crime story, etc.

ΚΠ

1886 Academy 11 Dec. 762/1 To say anything about the story of a book of this sort is fatal to its peculiar interest; so we shall end by commending it to lovers of the crime-story.

1906 Daily Chron. 15 May 3/5 All the stock characters of..crime-romance are here.

1928 Times 12 May 12/3 Her delicate figure and manner are..not for the full-throated passion of a crime play.

1935 Ann. Reg. 1934 ii. 307 A cinema in Chicago where he was enjoying a ‘crime film’.

1971 C. Watson Snobbery with Violence i. 23 An increasing number of writers after 1870, the year of Dickens's death, turned their ingenuity and energy to the construction of crime stories.

1987 D. Clandfield Canad. Film iv. 82 Yves Simoneau has made a number of stylish films for a broader audience, including two crime-thrillers.

2002 Time 8 Apr. 72/1 The stylish crime show has unseated ER as TV's most watched drama.

C3.

crime boss n. originally U.S. a head of a criminal organization; cf. crime lord n.

ΚΠ

1928 N.Y. Times 26 Dec. 2/3 (heading) Policemen and crime bosses face arrest in vice inquiry.

1973 V. Teresa & T. C. Renner My Life in Mafia xvii. 178 It was the fear of his cunning and wolflike savagery that prompted five crime bosses of Cosa Nostra to plan Anastasia's murder.

2005 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 10 July (Factor X section) 5 Those hoods said they're working for a crime boss called The Owl.

crimebuster n. colloquial (originally U.S.) a person who works to prevent crime.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > law enforcement > law-enforcement or peace-officer > [noun] > one who represses crime

crimebuster1943

1943 Coronet Feb. 119 (heading) Crime Busters on Wheels.

1962 ‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed i. 9 A man who takes pleasure in being called crime-buster promises without delay to put vice on ice in Montreal.

2002 U.S. News & World Rep. 9 Sept. 35/1 Indeed, after terrorists, executives and directors may be the prime targets of federal crimebusters nowadays.

crime-busting adj. and n. colloquial (originally U.S.) (a) adj. that reduces, prevents, or investigates crime; (b) n. the action of working to reduce the incidence of crime; = crime fighting adj. and n.

ΚΠ

1937 La Crosse (Wisconsin) Tribune & Leader-Press 25 Feb. 10/6 (advt.) Crime busting laboratory of U.S.

1938 Hartford (Connecticut) Daily Courant 3 Jan. 9/4 Two and a half years as special prosecutor of rackets which skyrocketed him to the top of his field, ‘crime busting’.

1997 Dunoon Observer & Argyllshire Standard 26 Apr. 1/3 It was the first attempted auto theft to be foiled as a direct result of the crime-busting cameras.

2004 R. B. Parker Bad Business (2005) xi. 49 A life of crime-busting has made you cynical.

crime detection n. the process of uncovering criminal activity (or verifying reported crime) and acquiring evidence in order to identify and prosecute its perpetrators.In most countries, conducted by the police or specialist law-enforcement agencies.

ΚΠ

1847 Med. Times 11 Sept. 579/3 The ‘coronership’ is a tumbledown office... Its business of crime detection has fallen or risen into other hands.

1921 Indianapolis Star 21 Aug. 34/6 Dr. Edmund Locard, head of the Lyons police laboratory of identification, has elaborated these new methods of crime detection.

1975 C. Borrell & B. Cashinella Crime in Brit. Today ii. 11 Senior detectives, in increasing numbers, being taken off crime detection duties for ‘rubber heeling’,..investigating complaints against their own men.

2007 Independent 28 Feb. (Extra section) 8/2 Police then ferried drug and other samples to us from each nearby scene, and we were able to analyse them right away. This is crime detection in real time.

crime family n. originally U.S. an organized crime syndicate controlled by and centred around a specific family.

ΚΠ

1928 Chicago Tribune 21 Sept. 1/6 He sketched the crime family, reaching..from Crowe and Thompson through others to the chieftains and the hireling[s] of the Mafia.

2003 A. Sayle Overtaken 172 The remaining crime families..assumed the Gorcis had found a new area to expand into, were getting some financial rake-off or tax write-down from the show.

crime fiction n. fiction that has crime as its central theme.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > novel > [noun] > crime or detective novel > collectively

crime fiction1905

detective fiction1922

whodunitry1961

1905 Gentleman's Mag. Dec. 15 (advt.) The prince of crime-fiction crime is certainly Raffles, that noble cricketer and burglar.

1924 C. S. Montanye in Saucy Stories Jan. 41/2 I write crime fiction for the magazines.

1975 Times Lit. Suppl. 20 June 692/4 He is as convincing an uncaught villain as any in crime fiction.

2007 New Yorker 26 Nov. 120/2 His next novel..departed from the style that had characterized his work so far, with its elements of fantasy and crime fiction.

crime fighter n. originally U.S. a person who or thing which reduces or prevents crime.

ΚΠ

1924 Iowa City (Iowa) Press-Citizen 18 July 6/2 New crime fighter... Use of the bank book as a preventer of crime is being given..a successful tryout in the court.

1940 in W. Eisner Spirit Arch. (2000) I. 106/3 Another one of those fancy-pants crime fighters... Well, if you think he is so good, you can have him!

2003 Observer 5 Jan. (Business section) 7/2 This sinister scam, which crime-fighters refer to as car-ringing, usually involves high-value cars.

crime fighting adj. and n. originally U.S. (a) adj. that reduces, prevents, or investigates crime; (b) n. the action of working to reduce the incidence of crime; policing or legal work.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > law enforcement > [noun] > crime-prevention

crime prevention1846

crime fighting1906

1906 Chicago Tribune 18 Aug. 3/5 (headline) Crime fighting minister joins chase of hoodlums.

1921 Englewood (Illinois) Economist 9 Mar. 4/7 Co-operation of experts in crime fighting in all parts of the country have been sought by the committee.

2002 K. Starr Embattled Dreams ix. 250 He made his political reputation as a hard-charging, showboating, crime-fighting prosecutor.

2005 F. Wang Organizing through Div. & Exclusion i. 29 Targeted segments of the population to be specially and focally monitored and controlled by the hukou police for the purpose of social control and crime fighting.

crime figure n. (a) (in plural) statistics concerning crime, esp. the incidence, type, etc., of criminal activity in a particular area; (b) a (well-known) criminal.

ΚΠ

1879 Congregationalist (Boston, Mass.) 26 Feb. 3/1 Crime figures in the London Times run thus: in 1870 the average prison population was 19,830;..in 1877, 20,361.

1934 Chicago Sunday Tribune 16 Dec. 7/1 (headline) Rabbit Connell, notorious crime figure, is slain.

1996 Independent 13 Jan. 15/1 The one positive thing that has come out of this for our friends across the Atlantic is that the crime figures have plummeted to zilch.

2005 J. Nickell Secrets of Sideshows iv. 113 The jewels were destined for Chinatown's Wing To, an elderly crime figure who would fence them.

crime gang n. originally U.S. = crime syndicate n.

ΚΠ

1911 Los Angeles Times 15 Dec. 1/7 (heading) Federal probe of the McNamara crime gang starts in Indianapolis.

1988 B. Sterling Islands in Net (1989) v. 147 Kymera Corporation were paranoid, always blaming foreigners for the actions of Japanese yakuza crime gangs.

2008 T. L. Hines Unseen 270 He's convinced I'm with a rival crime gang or something.

crime hotspot n. originally U.S. an area with a particularly high incidence of crime.

ΚΠ

1949 Chicago Sunday Tribune 17 Apr. 43/1 Commissioner Prendergast needs more man power if Chicago is to adequately police its crime ‘hot spots’.

2007 P. K. B. St. Jean Pockets of Crime 197 The maps allowed for a better understanding of where the crime hotspots were spatially distributed in the research site.

crime investigation n. the investigation of crimes, detective work; (also) an instance of this.

ΚΠ

1884 Further Corr. Affairs Egypt 2 in Parl. Papers (C. 4107) LXXXIX. 348 The Government has decided to make the Mudirs responsible for order, and the Procureur-Général for crime investigation.

1920 O. R. Cohen Gray Dusk xix. 247 A crime investigation is, after all, nothing but a mass of false scents.

1991 R. Reiner Chief Constables ii. iv. 98 Others claimed to be the first..to develop a computer for major crime investigations.

2000 Police Rev. 4 Feb. 25/3 Politically correct ‘flyers’, with little hands-on experience, particularly in crime investigation.

crime investigator n. a person who investigates crimes; spec. a detective, or a crime scene investigator (crime scene investigator n. at crime scene n. Compounds 2).

ΚΠ

1878 Era 14 Apr. 11/4 The Detective Department has turned into the ‘Criminal Investigation Department’. A detective is no longer a detective, but a ‘crime investigator’.

1953 Pop. Mech. Aug. 140/2 Crime investigators who must remain undetected to avoid suspicion find infrared photography a useful tool.

2006 R. M. Green in J. Illes Neuroethics viii. 106 DNA analysis has furnished powerful new tools to crime investigators.

crime lab n. originally U.S. a facility in a police department for the analysis of forensic evidence.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > administration of justice > judicial body, assembly, or court > [noun] > offices attached to courts > forensic science department

crime laboratory1914

crime lab1930

forensic1963

forensics1983

1930 Morning Herald (Uniontown, Pa.) 29 Dec. 17/1 (headline) Obscure clues tell tales to crime lab.

1975 J. Wambaugh Choirboys i. 5 They have ways in the crime lab to tell if documents have been tampered with!

2002 A. Proulx That Old Ace in Hole (2003) vi. 53 There were scores of circular marks on the victim's skin, and on a wild hunch Hugh Dough asked the crime lab to compare them with the decorative conchas on the ranch owner's handmade chaps.

crime laboratory n. originally U.S. a laboratory where crime and criminal activity is studied; spec. = crime lab n.

ΚΠ

1914 La Crosse (Wisconsin) Tribune 28 Mar. 9/3 Plan crime laboratory... A human laboratory where wife deserters, pickpockets, ‘disorderlies’ and the whole host of minor offenders against the law, will be studied by physicians.

1955 Sci. Amer. Sept. 188/2 This is a first-class piece of ratiocination and scientific detection which makes the efforts of highly touted police and crime laboratories seem bush-league stuff.

2001 Security Oz No. 7. 104/2 A person usually needs at least a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry, criminalistics, or a related science in order to work in a crime laboratory.

crime lord n. originally U.S. a head of a criminal organization.

ΚΠ

1924 Chicago Sunday Tribune 16 Nov. 8/1 Where the politicians make alliance with crime, they acquire the vassals of the crime lords, thousands and tens of thousands of votes.

1969 Washington Post 20 Nov. c8/1 Unfortunately for them, they pick a fight with Anthony ‘Baccala’ Pastrumo, a crimelord.

2009 M. Abernethy Double Back xix. 117 The world's crime lords had used bulk coffee shipments to mask a variety of contraband over the years.

crime novel n. a novel that has crime as its central theme.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > novel > [noun] > crime or detective novel

murder mystery1880

detective story1883

crime novel1884

police novel1889

roman policier1896

true crime1923

detective novel1924

whodunit1930

tec1934

police procedural1957

procedural1963

whydunit1968

1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 14 Nov. 5/1 When we come across a good crime novel by Wilkie Collins, we confess we have that sensation of satisfaction.

1955 Mag. Fantasy & Sci. Fiction Mar. 20 Bloch has written..above-average paperback crime novels.

1976 Publishers Weekly 19 Apr. 81/2 Like the other crime novels from the British author, this is a real page turner.

2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 21 May 21/3 Writers of crime novels in search of authenticity have a hard time with police procedurals these days.

crime novelist n. a writer of crime novels; cf. Compounds 2b.

ΚΠ

1898 G. Saintsbury in E. Marriage tr. H. de Balzac Gondreville Myst. Pref. p. ix It is certain as anything in history that Balzac begat Poe, and that Poe begat all our English crime-novelists.

1954 Times 16 June 4/4 Up and down the crowded aisles moved the crime novelists,..with nothing more sinister in their amiability than an eagerness to autograph fly-leaves of their own books.

2008 Los Angeles Times 24 Oct. e19 She made the transition from frustrated newspaper reporter to part-time crime novelist to critically acclaimed bestselling author.

crime prevention n. the adoption of measures intended to reduce or inhibit criminal activity, esp. by implementing programmes to deter potential offenders or to enhance the security of potential targets.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > law enforcement > [noun] > crime-prevention

crime prevention1846

crime fighting1906

1846 North Wales Chron. (Bangor) 7 July Encouraged to design a measure of crime prevention for Ireland, much needed at one time.

1928 B. Hecht & C. MacArthur Front Page ii. 71 The time to catch 'em is while they're little kids. That's the whole basis of my crime prevention theory.

1983 Daily Tel. 6 Apr. 19/3 Scotland Yard [is] impressed by the success of America's ‘neighbourhood watch’ citizen crime prevention projects.

2003 HomeDIY Dec. 45/3 A Crime Prevention Officer..will come and visit your home and give free advice on the potential weak spots and the ways to secure them.

crime rate n. (a) a tax levied to support the criminal justice system (obsolete rare); (b) a measure of the number of crimes recorded in a particular area, over a given period of time, etc.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > tax > types of tax > [noun] > other taxes

gartie1533

quidrathe1570

primage1606

carriage tax1781

assessed taxes1796

imperialty1799

crime rate1857

primage1888

use tax1910

takeout1939

graduate tax1967

1857 C. Hursthouse N.Z. I. xix. 600 A judicious system of ‘State Emigration’, might in a very few years be made to relieve us of at least one-half of our entire poor-rates and of one-half of our entire crime rates.

1870 Glasgow Herald 15 Jan. 5/1 In these circumstances the death, pauper, and crime rates were inevitable.

2008 Daily Tel. 7 Feb. 23/5 During the 1980s Washington's crime rate was said to have fallen after a concentrated dose of yogic flying.

crime reporter n. a journalist who reports on crimes and criminal trials.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > journalism > journalist > [noun] > crime reporter

police reporter1813

crime reporter1907

1907 N.Y. Times 26 May (Mag.) 2/3 The awful prevalence of crime would suddenly cease to impress, if our crime reporters and muck-rakers would resolve to write the plain, unadorned truth.

1936 ‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles xix. 200 He..might be only a crime reporter, but he knew just as much about crime..as any police force.

2002 New Yorker 25 Nov. 102/2 He..became, at the age of seventeen, a full-fledged crime reporter on the New York Evening Graphic.

crime sheet n. (a) a record of breaches of military regulations (now historical); (b) a police record of crimes or of a particular crime.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > [noun] > police records

police blotter1861

charge-sheet1866

murder book1876

blotter1887

charge-book1890

crime sheet1902

mug book1902

occurrence book1929

rap sheet1949

sheet1958

murder file1967

murder log1972

1902 Econ. Jrnl. 12 111 Their crime sheet seems singularly clean.

1917 A. G. Empey From Fire Step 150 The Sergeant-Major keeps what is known as the Crime Sheet.

1969 A. Hawkey Last Post at Mhow 124 The crime sheet was torn up by the adjutant.

1969 Times 1 Feb. 6/5 One local newspaper has begun to publish a daily police crime sheet, with those involved identified by race.

2000 Police Rev. 4 Feb. 10/2 An officer should complete a crime sheet for every allegation even if the officer is not convinced that a crime has been committed.

crime spree n. originally U.S. a period of sustained criminal activity, now esp. as carried out by a single criminal or criminal gang.

ΚΠ

1919 Fort Wayne (Indiana) News & Sentinel 19 Apr. 11/5 (heading) St. Louis on Crime Spree.

1923 N.Y. Times 8 June 13/1 Two real ‘baby burglars’, sister and brother, one 8, the other 12, were put in the House of Detention today after a brief crime spree.

1974 Times 14 Sept. 2/4 A couple who were said to have travelled about Britain for 18 months on a massive crime spree were sentenced at Exeter Crown Court yesterday.

2007 L. Wood Funny Business xxi. 280 Police later said the offender..had been on a four-month crime spree during which he stole sixteen cars and broke into a dozen houses.

crime statistics n. statistics concerning the incidence, type, etc., of crime in a particular area; (now also in singular) a victim of crime.

ΚΠ

1852 Southern Literary Messenger Nov. 683/2 Who wonders at the world of iniquity and crime-statistics when our dear little ones..are taught this foul Benthamism?

1915 Manch. Guardian 10 Mar. 12/1 In Petrograd in August crime statistics showed a decrease of 25 per cent.

1982 Ebony June 57/1 This young woman probably could have avoided being a crime statistic if she had been cautious.

2007 A. Walsh & L. Ellis Criminol. ii. 27 All social statistics are suspect to some extent, and crime statistics are perhaps the most suspect of all.

crime syndicate n. originally U.S. a large (closely or loosely) affiliated group of gangsters or criminals involved in organized crime.

ΚΠ

1899 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 16 Aug. 8/6 The crime syndicate of assassination feared Labori and wanted his life and documents.

1952 J. Lait & L. Mortimer U.S.A. Confidential ii. xvii. 194 As for the crime syndicate being out of Texas, that is just so much soap suds. The Mafia made one of its first major inroads in the United States in Galveston.

2004 Diva Mar. 28/1 Russian organised crime differs considerably and significantly from other crime syndicates: unlike the Chinese Triads and the Japanese Yakuza, whose systems are built upon hierarchy, honour and respect, the Russian Mafia is made up primarily of hundreds of small, independent, utterly ruthless units controlling their own turf or territory.

crime victim n. a victim of a crime.

ΚΠ

1910 Indianapolis Star 9 Jan. 6/6 (heading) Statement made that mother of heiress was crime victim.

1961 Guardian 21 Apr. 2/5 Questions on the subject of compensation for crime victims were put to Mr Butler, Home Secretary, in the House of Commons yesterday.

2006 M. Jones Criminals of Bible 174 There are actions we can take that can lessen our likelihood of becoming a crime victim.

crime watch n. originally U.S. (a) an intensive survey of crime in a particular area; (b) = neighbourhood watch n. at neighbourhood n. Compounds 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > watching or keeping guard > [noun] > guarding the streets > by the citizens of a neighbourhood

crime watch1969

neighbourhood watch1972

1969 N.Y. Times 1 July 35/1 (heading) Weekend crime watch shows the stealth of muggers here.

1972 Portsmouth (New Hampsh.) Herald 10 May 9/5 A Portland newspaper applauded the formation of neighborhood crime watch programs.

1990 Times (Nexis) 8 May Plans for neighbourhood noise watchers, similar to existing crime watch schemes, are likely.

1996 Sun (Baltimore) 14 Apr. k 6/4 As a block captain, he organized a block crime watch for his neighborhood.

crime wave n. originally U.S. a period of marked increase in the incidence of crime.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime > rise in incidence of

crime wave1889

1889 Huntington (Pa.) Globe 31 Jan. 2/3 Has a crime wave struck the Keystone State?

1945 Daily Mirror 8 Dec. 1/4 Scotland Yard..made a new move in its war against the mounting crime wave.

2006 Daily Tel. 21 June 13/1 The hurricane-ravaged city struggled to quell a fast-rising and bloody crime wave.

crime writer n. an author who writes about fictional crimes.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > novel > [noun] > crime or detective novel > writer of

murder man1890

detectivist1892

murdermonger1900

crime writer1914

detective novelist1926

murdermongeress1957

1914 Manitoba Free Press 5 Sept. (Theatre section) 2/2 The reporter..secures for her another position as stenographer to the crime writer, Clavering.

1946 ‘M. Innes’ What happened at Hazelwood iii. i. 169 Amateur crime-writers are just as painfully incompetent as amateur actors.

1997 C. Barker in D. E. Winter Revelations 441 Three novels produced in the 1930s by the ‘Detection Club’, a conclave of British crime writers.

crime writing n. writing that has crime as its theme.

ΚΠ

1925 Middletown (N.Y.) Daily Herald 1 June 1/3 He was then asked to join the staff of the ‘New York Tribune’ and continued to specialize in crime writing.

1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Apr. 238/5 Crime-writing ought to grow closer to the straight novel and away from the master-mind detective story.

2001 M. Cox in V. Buchli & G. Lucas Archaeologies of Contemp. Past xiii. 152 Crime writing began with the Biblical story of Cain and Abel.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	crime
释义	crimen. Brit. /krʌɪm/, U.S. /kraɪm/ Forms: Middle English crym, Middle English–1600s cryme, Middle English– crime; Scottish pre-1700 chryme, pre-1700 1700s cryme, pre-1700 1700s– crime. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French crime. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French crime (French crime ) sin, wrongdoing, criminal act (12th cent.; in Middle French also accusation (15th cent.)) < classical Latin crīmen charge, accusation, matter for accusation or blame, reproach, offence, misdeed, in post-classical Latin also sin (late 2nd or early 3rd cent. in Tertullian) < the base of cernere cern v.¹ + -men (see -ment suffix). Compare Old Occitan crim, Catalan crim (13th cent.), Spanish crimen (13th cent.), †crim (14th cent.), Portuguese crime (13th cent.), Italian crimine (a1306). 1. †a. Sin; sinfulness; wrongdoing. Chiefly poetic in later use. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > evildoing or wrongdoing > [noun] sinc825 naughteOE unnuteOE sinningc1000 unrightOE un-i-selthlOE wonder1154 misguiltc1200 misdoinga1225 teeninga1225 miss?c1225 crimec1250 misdeed?c1250 wickednessa1300 mischiefa1387 evil-doing1398 mistakinga1400 perpetrationc1429 wrongingc1449 maledictionc1475 maleficence1533 wicked-doing1535 foul play1546 misdealing1571 flagition1598 delinquency1603 malefaction1604 meschancy1609 malefacture1635 misacting1651 guilt1726 flagitiosity1727 malpractice1739 malfeasance1856 peccation1861 miscreance1972 c1250 in Englische Studien (1935) 70 234 Þe smet [read smec] was iwonken of ure heuene kinke; þat ofþutte Cayme, þe fule niþincke. c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Titus i. 6 If ony man is withouten cryme, or greet synne [L. sine crimine]. 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Norbert (1977) l. 2455 He holid him both fro langour & fro cryme. a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 74 (MED) No man may lyve withoute cryme. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. xii. sig. Bb Whilest louing thou mayst loued be with equall crime. 1625 Psalme of Mercy 258 Gods mercy is not restrained, either by the enormity of Crime, or extremity of time. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 79 One next himself in power, and next in crime . View more context for this quotation 1740 S. Richardson Pamela I. xxxi. 250 I will be innocent of Crime in my Intention, and in the Sight of God. 1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab vi. 74 Crime and misery are in yonder earth, Falsehood, mistake, and lust. 1892 D. Sigerson in Irish Monthly 20 211 To a heart's despair sin scarce seems sin—When hope dies out, maybe crime steals in. b. An evil or injurious act; an offence, a sin; esp. of a grave character. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > wrongful deed > [noun] misdeedeOE guilt971 evilOE follya1275 trespassc1290 errorc1330 illa1340 untetchea1375 offencec1384 crimec1390 forfeit1393 faultc1400 demerit1485 disorder1581 misfeasancea1626 misactiona1667 trespassage1874 society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > evildoing or wrongdoing > [noun] > an evil deed > an evil deed, fault, or offence sinc825 guilt971 man deedOE evilOE misbodea1200 follya1275 unthrift1303 misbreydec1380 offencec1384 crimec1390 forfeit1393 felonya1400 faultc1400 misfeatc1400 feat1481 demerit1485 misdemeanoura1513 facta1533 piaculum1575 miscarriage1579 delinquishment1593 delinquency1603 piacle1644 amissness1648 peccancy1648 c1390 in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) i. 86 (MED) Heil Modur of Sone i-blest, Þorwh whom dyliuered beone Þei þat wiþ crymes ben opprest. ?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 30^v A Cryme,..vbi trespas or syn. 1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. PPPiii^v All the crymes of the tonge, as sclaunders..and priuey backbytynges. 1577 M. Hanmer tr. Socrates Scholasticus ii. xiii, in Aunc. Eccl. Hist. 261 All such crymes as Athanasius was charged withall, were meere false. a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) v. ii. 28 If you bethinke your selfe of any crime, Vnreconcil'd as yet to heauen and grace. View more context for this quotation 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 214 That with reiterated crimes he might Heap on himself damnation. View more context for this quotation 1706 J. Addison Rosamond i. i 'Tis her crime to be loved, 'Tis her crime to have charms. 1768 H. Brooke Fool of Quality III. 220 I held myself as the Refugee Jonas, whose Crimes brought Perdition on all in the Vessel. 1842 E. Miall in Nonconformist 2 1 If in future we should go astray, we can plead no excuse in extenuation of the crime. 1887 M. Burt Browning's Women 52 Unforgivingness beyond a certain limit is a base crime. 1926 in R. P. Arnot Gen. Strike 233 The..decision to call off the General Strike is the greatest crime that has ever been permitted..against the working class. 1969 R. Howard Untitled Subj. 64 The worst crimes of all are committed in the home, that sanctuary out of the law's reach. 2007 A. Theroux Laura Warholic xxxiii. 518 Blaise Pascal, repenting the pollutions of his sensual youth,..came to deem even his own mother's kiss a crime. c. In weakened use: a shameful or regrettable act; an unfortunate situation; a bad thing.In later use influenced by sense 2. ΚΠ 1636 R. Baker tr. Cato Variegatus 53 To let Time slip, is a recurelesse crime. You may have Time againe; but not the Time. 1697 J. Vanbrugh Provok'd Wife i. 5 You have given me so many proofs of your Friendship, that my reserve has been indeed a Crime. a1797 H. Walpole Mem. George II (1847) III. i. 19 Those, who, two years ago, lay under the irremissible crime of being Tories. 1832 P. Egan Bk. Sports 346/1 A free slashing hitter, who holds it a crime To get any less than six runs a time. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 24 Nov. 3/2 Inconsequent trimmings, that have no raison d'être, are well known to be the crime of the third-rate dressmaker. 1912 E. Ferber Buttered Side Down viii. 140 The wall-paper was a crime. It represented an army of tan mustard plasters climbing up a chocolate-fudge wall. 2003 V. O. Carter Such Sweet Thunder 178 Doin' any and ever'thin' they say, workin' Sund'ys, workin' nights—for twelve lousy dollars a week! It's a crime! 2. a. An act or omission constituting an offence (usually a grave one) against an individual or the state and punishable by law. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > [noun] unrightOE witec1175 misbodea1200 misguiltc1200 misdoinga1225 miss?c1225 trespassinga1340 forfeiturec1380 offensiona1382 crimec1384 abusion?1387 evil-doing1398 mistakinga1400 offendinga1425 transgression1426 wrongingc1449 digression1517 digressinga1535 transgressing1535 swerving1545 misdealing1571 transgress1578 misfaring1595 misacting1651 malpractice1739 malfeasance1856 wrongdoing1874 miscreance1972 society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime > a crime crimec1384 broke1481 facta1533 malefact1534 penalty1579 malefaction1604 malefacture1635 job1679 offence1683 criminality1750 operationa1902 c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Deeds xxiii. 29 Hauynge no cryme [L. nihil criminis] worthi the deeth, or bondis. ?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 191 Ȝif the kyng himself do ony homycydie or ony cryme, as to sle a man..he schall dye þerefore. ?1449 Petition in Rotuli Parl. (1767–77) V. 156/2 And he be founde faillyng therinne, he shall not oonly renne into the crime of Perjurie, but be put oute of his office. 1526 Bible (Tyndale) Acts xxv. 16 The Cryme wher of he is accused. 1574 J. Baret Aluearie C 345 To be charged, or conuinced in manie crymes. a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iii. vi. 82 If by this Crime, he owes the Law his life. View more context for this quotation 1675 Sir L. Jenkins in Life II. 714 Every Man, by the Usage of our European Nations, is justiciable in the Place where the Crime is committed. 1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. i. vi. 100 Ingratitude is among them a capital Crime, as we read it to have been in some other Countries. 1769 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. IV. 5 A crime, or misdemeanor, is an act committed, or omitted, in violation of a public law. 1809 J. Adams Let. 9 Jan. (1854) IX. 316 The impressment of seamen..is..a crime punishable with death by all civilized nations. 1867 Manch. Examiner 10 Oct. With the moralist bribery is a sin; with the legislator a crime. 1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 4/1 If a person were accused of a crime and seemed likely to be indicted. 1959 F. Sondern Brotherhood of Evil iv. 60 Sicilians who had left their country to avoid punishment for crimes they had committed there. 2004 H. Kennedy Just Law (2005) i. 28 Judith Ward was also convicted of crimes she did not commit. b. Such acts collectively; breaking of the law. ΘΚΠ society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime crime1485 game1739 work1762 heel1911 1485 W. Caxton tr. Lyf St. Wenefryde sig. a iii O thou wycked man whiche hast..slayn by cryme as an homycyde this noble vyrgyn. 1533 Fabyans Cronycle (new ed.) II. f. ccxxviii None myght lyue that thou accused of cryme. 1576 G. Pettie Petite Pallace 9 Seing in al degrees of freind ship, equality is cheefly considered, I trust you will clere me of crime that way. 1622 F. Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII 196 It was neither guilt of Crime, nor reason of State, that could quench the Enuie that was vpon the King for this Execution. 1670 T. Blount Resol. Jvdges Statutes Bankrupts 49 The High-Commissioners cannot extend themselves but only to Crime. 1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World II. 38 I was imprisoned, though a stranger to crime. 1769 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. IV. 94 Felony..comprizes every species of crime, which occasioned at common law the forfeiture of lands or goods. 1833 Times 21 Aug. 4/5 Here was ample cause to account for the increase of crime. 1879 J. A. Froude Cæsar viii. 72 Others came, like Sergius Catiline.., men steeped in crime. 1932 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 10 Jan. 17/3 A gangster who calls himself Napoleon and who goes in for crime in a big way. 1969 R. Salerno & J. S. Tompkins Crime Confederation 203 The profits of crime are untaxed. 2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane vi. 130 Before long, they had joined a street gang and found themselves embroiled in a life of crime. †3. A charge; an accusation. In quot. c1384: cause for accusation. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > law > administration of justice > general proceedings > accusation, allegation, or indictment > [noun] > a charge, accusation, or allegation crimec1384 calla1400 allegation1402 advocacya1413 allegeancea1430 objection1440 surmise1451 charge1477 ditement1502 crimination1534 allegement1594 appeach1628 c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Macc. ix. 10 Ȝif oure tyme hath neiȝid, dye we in vertu of oure bretheren, and ȝeue we not cryme [L. crimen] to oure glorie. c1405 (c1380) G. Chaucer Second Nun's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 455 For we bere a cristen name Ye putte on vs a cryme & eek a blame. a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Merlin (1904) I. l. 1326 Ȝif j delyvere my modir of this cryme anon, schal sche thanne ony more jn warde be? 1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Siii To whome they byeng moste innocent hath ben put the cryme of fornicacion. 1562 T. Cooper Answere Def. Truth f. 101^v, in Apol. Priuate Masse The same crimes may bee more iustly retourned to your selfe and yours. 1603 A. Willet Retection 156 Chrysostome saith, that hee which raiseth a crime against his brother, doth as it were eate his brothers flesh. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 1181 I rue That errour now, which is become my crime, And thou th' accuser. View more context for this quotation 1721 G. Jacob Treat. Laws ii. 250 A cross Accusation is, when one that is accused, retorts the same Crime upon the Accuser. 1819 P. B. Shelley Rosalind & Helen 29 All present who these crimes did hear..slunk away. Phrases P1. crime against humanity: an immoral or destructive act; spec. (in later use) an unlawful act which causes human suffering or death on a large scale.Crimes against humanity became an established part of international law for the first time when used in the Charter for the Nuremberg Tribunal (August 1945), defined therein (Article 6(c)) as: ‘murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war, or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated.’ ΚΠ 1673 R. Baxter Christian Directory iv. xxv. 166 Be faithful to your friend that doth entrust you; remembring that perfidiousness or falseness to a friend, is a crime against humanity, and all society. 1800 Coll. State Papers War against France IX. 37 It is an outrage of the rights of nations, a crime against humanity, and a heinous offence committed against the French Republic. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. Mar. 266 That this crime against humanity [sc. slavery]..should be denationalized. 1948 Times 27 Nov. 5/5 If, on the basis of the evidence adduced or adduceable, these men are responsible for perpetrating crimes against humanity, [etc.]. 1973 L. Ginsberg Let. 22 Dec. in A. Ginsberg & L. Ginsberg Family Business (2001) 351 He is riddled by Christian anti-Semitism... What crimes against humanity has Israel engaged in, according to Berrigan? It has treated Arabs well & attempted to integrate them into the body politic. 2003 Philadelphia Inquirer 16 May a4/5 Eliezer Niyitegeka was found guilty of six counts of genocide and crimes against humanity, a spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda said. P2. crime against nature: an act considered contrary to the preferred or accepted norms or values of a society, esp. an act perceived as sexually deviant (and sometimes legally defined as such). [Probably originally after French crime contre nature (1667 in the passage translated in quot. 1683).] ΚΠ 1683 J. Bulteel tr. F. E. de Mézeray Gen. Chronol. Hist. France ii. 412 He was burnt alive for a crime against nature; and this was a Bon-fire to the People, whom he had most horribly vexed and abused. 1712 J. Gardiner Pract. Expos. Beatitudes vi. 165 Fornication, Adultery, and that horrid Crime against Nature, not fit to be named. 1799 A. Plumptre tr. A. von Kotzebue La-Peyrouse ii. iii. 24 Your union began with a crime against nature. 1815 W. Johnson Rep. Supreme Court N.-Y. 11 38 He would give in evidence that the plaintiff..committed the detestable crime against nature on a certain beast called a cow. 1859 Times 9 Nov. 8/3 It is no less a crime against nature and against all human affections. 1949 Jrnl. Criminal Law & Criminol. 40 188 Whenever a defendant has been adjudged guilty of either a crime against nature, rape, or crime against children,..the court is then ordered not to impose sentence on the defendant until..a determination is made as to whether the defendant is a sexually dangerous person. 2003 A. Franken Lies xxx. 252 Many people think of anti-miscegenation laws as being the same as segregation, but they're not. Miscegenation is about the ‘mongrelization’ of the white race, which to this day is considered by some to be a crime against nature. P3. crime against peace: an act of lawlessness or violence, (now) spec. an act of war considered to be in violation of international law, esp. of the Charter for the Nuremberg Tribunal.Article 6(a) of the August 1945 Charter for the Nuremberg Tribunal defines crimes against peace as ‘planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing.’ ΚΠ 1851 Christian Rev. Apr. 265 There may be, there are, crimes against peace and order, and there must be laws and constabulary forces for the lawless and disturbers of the peace. 1898 Boston Globe 23 Apr. 7/6 He..places under martial law all those who are guilty of treason, espionage, crimes against peace or against the independence of the nation. 1945 Times 9 Aug. 4/6 With greater precision than ever before, ‘crimes against peace’ are set down. 1986 M. G. Raskin Common Good 212 Under the language of the Charter of Nuremberg, strategies such as counterforce..could be classified either as crimes against humanity or crimes against peace. 2007 M. Cohn Cowboy Republic i. 9 The evidence indicates that the U.S.-led invasion..is therefore a war of aggression, which constitutes a crime against peace. P4. crime doesn't pay and variants: punishment rather than profit or advantage is the ultimate consequence of crime. ΚΠ 1860 Law Mag. & Law Rev. 8 89 In these hours of solitude he is led, perhaps for the first time in his life, to wholesome reflection. His earliest thought will probably be that crime does not pay. 1892 Catholic World Dec. 364 Our laws are so made and executed as to prove that crime doesn't pay. 1937 Rotarian Feb. 61/1 Some of them go to the point of carrying a line, ‘Crime Never Pays’, at the head of every news article telling about the arrest and punishment of a criminal. 1969 R. Salerno & J. S. Tompkins Crime Confederation 94 Society's official message has been: Crime Does Not Pay. 2001 J. A. Schwarcz Genie in Bottle 187 Trepal spent two years in jail for that crime, but he failed to learn that crime doesn't pay. Compounds C1. Objective, instrumental, etc., as crime-promoting, crime-ridden, crime-stained, etc., adjs.; also crime-preventer. ΚΠ 1801 W. Winstanley Hypocrite Unmask'd v. 83 The lightest punishment your crime-stained heart can suffer. 1823 J. S. Mill Autobiogr. (1924) 273 The Catholic priesthood added..the crime-promoting doctrine of indulgences. 1859 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 1858 President's Addr. p. civ One crime-preventer hangs the man, another trains the boy. 1873 Times 1 July 6/4 Ireland was a most crime-ridden country. 1886 A. D. Ainslie Reynard the Fox i. 2 The rascal Reynard, crime-bestained. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 14 July 2/1 She wondered..what manner of hideous crime-stained countenance that paper hid. 1947 Times 2 Apr. 3/4 This [sc. Burma], the most crime-loving country in Asia. 1960 L. T. Wilkins Delinquent Generations 1 Children born during the war might be more crime-prone than others. 2005 V. Lougheed Belize 51 In the past, Belize City was considered a dangerous and crime-riddled place. C2. a. General attributive, as crime baron, crime reduction, crime report, crime treatment, etc. ΚΠ 1857 R. Fletcher Eng. & her Colonies 107 Education, sex, origin..are all-important classifications in connection with crime treatment. 1882 Aberdeen Weekly Jrml. 10 June 5/4 It appears from crime reports..there had been a murder on the estate. 1888 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 26 Apr. 4/5 Crime in Ireland decreased from 2597..to 836 cases,..a crime reduction of 78 per cent. 1906 Daily Chron. 26 May 7/5 One of the most remarkable crime-mysteries which have occupied the attention of the London police for some years. 1928 Cent. Mag. May 117/1 They point to our slums, our hold-ups, our murders and general crime record. 1934 D. Thomas Let. 2 May (1987) 122 I want to read the crime page in the Telegraph. 1952 J. Lait & L. Mortimer U.S.A. Confidential i. iii. 13 A loosely organized group of interlocking enterprises which we shall call the Crime Cartel. 1988 J. Ellroy Big Nowhere vii. 75 One battered cabinet held the..West Hollywood crime reports, complaint reports, arrest reports and trouble call sheets. 2006 Daily Tel. 17 May 18/5 Diplomats and analysts say that large parts of the Bulgarian economy are controlled by crime-barons. b. attributive designating books, films, etc., having crime as their theme, as crime drama, crime film, crime story, etc. ΚΠ 1886 Academy 11 Dec. 762/1 To say anything about the story of a book of this sort is fatal to its peculiar interest; so we shall end by commending it to lovers of the crime-story. 1906 Daily Chron. 15 May 3/5 All the stock characters of..crime-romance are here. 1928 Times 12 May 12/3 Her delicate figure and manner are..not for the full-throated passion of a crime play. 1935 Ann. Reg. 1934 ii. 307 A cinema in Chicago where he was enjoying a ‘crime film’. 1971 C. Watson Snobbery with Violence i. 23 An increasing number of writers after 1870, the year of Dickens's death, turned their ingenuity and energy to the construction of crime stories. 1987 D. Clandfield Canad. Film iv. 82 Yves Simoneau has made a number of stylish films for a broader audience, including two crime-thrillers. 2002 Time 8 Apr. 72/1 The stylish crime show has unseated ER as TV's most watched drama. C3. crime boss n. originally U.S. a head of a criminal organization; cf. crime lord n. ΚΠ 1928 N.Y. Times 26 Dec. 2/3 (heading) Policemen and crime bosses face arrest in vice inquiry. 1973 V. Teresa & T. C. Renner My Life in Mafia xvii. 178 It was the fear of his cunning and wolflike savagery that prompted five crime bosses of Cosa Nostra to plan Anastasia's murder. 2005 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 10 July (Factor X section) 5 Those hoods said they're working for a crime boss called The Owl. crimebuster n. colloquial (originally U.S.) a person who works to prevent crime. ΘΚΠ society > law > law enforcement > law-enforcement or peace-officer > [noun] > one who represses crime crimebuster1943 1943 Coronet Feb. 119 (heading) Crime Busters on Wheels. 1962 ‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed i. 9 A man who takes pleasure in being called crime-buster promises without delay to put vice on ice in Montreal. 2002 U.S. News & World Rep. 9 Sept. 35/1 Indeed, after terrorists, executives and directors may be the prime targets of federal crimebusters nowadays. crime-busting adj. and n. colloquial (originally U.S.) (a) adj. that reduces, prevents, or investigates crime; (b) n. the action of working to reduce the incidence of crime; = crime fighting adj. and n. ΚΠ 1937 La Crosse (Wisconsin) Tribune & Leader-Press 25 Feb. 10/6 (advt.) Crime busting laboratory of U.S. 1938 Hartford (Connecticut) Daily Courant 3 Jan. 9/4 Two and a half years as special prosecutor of rackets which skyrocketed him to the top of his field, ‘crime busting’. 1997 Dunoon Observer & Argyllshire Standard 26 Apr. 1/3 It was the first attempted auto theft to be foiled as a direct result of the crime-busting cameras. 2004 R. B. Parker Bad Business (2005) xi. 49 A life of crime-busting has made you cynical. crime detection n. the process of uncovering criminal activity (or verifying reported crime) and acquiring evidence in order to identify and prosecute its perpetrators.In most countries, conducted by the police or specialist law-enforcement agencies. ΚΠ 1847 Med. Times 11 Sept. 579/3 The ‘coronership’ is a tumbledown office... Its business of crime detection has fallen or risen into other hands. 1921 Indianapolis Star 21 Aug. 34/6 Dr. Edmund Locard, head of the Lyons police laboratory of identification, has elaborated these new methods of crime detection. 1975 C. Borrell & B. Cashinella Crime in Brit. Today ii. 11 Senior detectives, in increasing numbers, being taken off crime detection duties for ‘rubber heeling’,..investigating complaints against their own men. 2007 Independent 28 Feb. (Extra section) 8/2 Police then ferried drug and other samples to us from each nearby scene, and we were able to analyse them right away. This is crime detection in real time. crime family n. originally U.S. an organized crime syndicate controlled by and centred around a specific family. ΚΠ 1928 Chicago Tribune 21 Sept. 1/6 He sketched the crime family, reaching..from Crowe and Thompson through others to the chieftains and the hireling[s] of the Mafia. 2003 A. Sayle Overtaken 172 The remaining crime families..assumed the Gorcis had found a new area to expand into, were getting some financial rake-off or tax write-down from the show. crime fiction n. fiction that has crime as its central theme. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > novel > [noun] > crime or detective novel > collectively crime fiction1905 detective fiction1922 whodunitry1961 1905 Gentleman's Mag. Dec. 15 (advt.) The prince of crime-fiction crime is certainly Raffles, that noble cricketer and burglar. 1924 C. S. Montanye in Saucy Stories Jan. 41/2 I write crime fiction for the magazines. 1975 Times Lit. Suppl. 20 June 692/4 He is as convincing an uncaught villain as any in crime fiction. 2007 New Yorker 26 Nov. 120/2 His next novel..departed from the style that had characterized his work so far, with its elements of fantasy and crime fiction. crime fighter n. originally U.S. a person who or thing which reduces or prevents crime. ΚΠ 1924 Iowa City (Iowa) Press-Citizen 18 July 6/2 New crime fighter... Use of the bank book as a preventer of crime is being given..a successful tryout in the court. 1940 in W. Eisner Spirit Arch. (2000) I. 106/3 Another one of those fancy-pants crime fighters... Well, if you think he is so good, you can have him! 2003 Observer 5 Jan. (Business section) 7/2 This sinister scam, which crime-fighters refer to as car-ringing, usually involves high-value cars. crime fighting adj. and n. originally U.S. (a) adj. that reduces, prevents, or investigates crime; (b) n. the action of working to reduce the incidence of crime; policing or legal work. ΘΚΠ society > law > law enforcement > [noun] > crime-prevention crime prevention1846 crime fighting1906 1906 Chicago Tribune 18 Aug. 3/5 (headline) Crime fighting minister joins chase of hoodlums. 1921 Englewood (Illinois) Economist 9 Mar. 4/7 Co-operation of experts in crime fighting in all parts of the country have been sought by the committee. 2002 K. Starr Embattled Dreams ix. 250 He made his political reputation as a hard-charging, showboating, crime-fighting prosecutor. 2005 F. Wang Organizing through Div. & Exclusion i. 29 Targeted segments of the population to be specially and focally monitored and controlled by the hukou police for the purpose of social control and crime fighting. crime figure n. (a) (in plural) statistics concerning crime, esp. the incidence, type, etc., of criminal activity in a particular area; (b) a (well-known) criminal. ΚΠ 1879 Congregationalist (Boston, Mass.) 26 Feb. 3/1 Crime figures in the London Times run thus: in 1870 the average prison population was 19,830;..in 1877, 20,361. 1934 Chicago Sunday Tribune 16 Dec. 7/1 (headline) Rabbit Connell, notorious crime figure, is slain. 1996 Independent 13 Jan. 15/1 The one positive thing that has come out of this for our friends across the Atlantic is that the crime figures have plummeted to zilch. 2005 J. Nickell Secrets of Sideshows iv. 113 The jewels were destined for Chinatown's Wing To, an elderly crime figure who would fence them. crime gang n. originally U.S. = crime syndicate n. ΚΠ 1911 Los Angeles Times 15 Dec. 1/7 (heading) Federal probe of the McNamara crime gang starts in Indianapolis. 1988 B. Sterling Islands in Net (1989) v. 147 Kymera Corporation were paranoid, always blaming foreigners for the actions of Japanese yakuza crime gangs. 2008 T. L. Hines Unseen 270 He's convinced I'm with a rival crime gang or something. crime hotspot n. originally U.S. an area with a particularly high incidence of crime. ΚΠ 1949 Chicago Sunday Tribune 17 Apr. 43/1 Commissioner Prendergast needs more man power if Chicago is to adequately police its crime ‘hot spots’. 2007 P. K. B. St. Jean Pockets of Crime 197 The maps allowed for a better understanding of where the crime hotspots were spatially distributed in the research site. crime investigation n. the investigation of crimes, detective work; (also) an instance of this. ΚΠ 1884 Further Corr. Affairs Egypt 2 in Parl. Papers (C. 4107) LXXXIX. 348 The Government has decided to make the Mudirs responsible for order, and the Procureur-Général for crime investigation. 1920 O. R. Cohen Gray Dusk xix. 247 A crime investigation is, after all, nothing but a mass of false scents. 1991 R. Reiner Chief Constables ii. iv. 98 Others claimed to be the first..to develop a computer for major crime investigations. 2000 Police Rev. 4 Feb. 25/3 Politically correct ‘flyers’, with little hands-on experience, particularly in crime investigation. crime investigator n. a person who investigates crimes; spec. a detective, or a crime scene investigator (crime scene investigator n. at crime scene n. Compounds 2). ΚΠ 1878 Era 14 Apr. 11/4 The Detective Department has turned into the ‘Criminal Investigation Department’. A detective is no longer a detective, but a ‘crime investigator’. 1953 Pop. Mech. Aug. 140/2 Crime investigators who must remain undetected to avoid suspicion find infrared photography a useful tool. 2006 R. M. Green in J. Illes Neuroethics viii. 106 DNA analysis has furnished powerful new tools to crime investigators. crime lab n. originally U.S. a facility in a police department for the analysis of forensic evidence. ΘΚΠ society > law > administration of justice > judicial body, assembly, or court > [noun] > offices attached to courts > forensic science department crime laboratory1914 crime lab1930 forensic1963 forensics1983 1930 Morning Herald (Uniontown, Pa.) 29 Dec. 17/1 (headline) Obscure clues tell tales to crime lab. 1975 J. Wambaugh Choirboys i. 5 They have ways in the crime lab to tell if documents have been tampered with! 2002 A. Proulx That Old Ace in Hole (2003) vi. 53 There were scores of circular marks on the victim's skin, and on a wild hunch Hugh Dough asked the crime lab to compare them with the decorative conchas on the ranch owner's handmade chaps. crime laboratory n. originally U.S. a laboratory where crime and criminal activity is studied; spec. = crime lab n. ΚΠ 1914 La Crosse (Wisconsin) Tribune 28 Mar. 9/3 Plan crime laboratory... A human laboratory where wife deserters, pickpockets, ‘disorderlies’ and the whole host of minor offenders against the law, will be studied by physicians. 1955 Sci. Amer. Sept. 188/2 This is a first-class piece of ratiocination and scientific detection which makes the efforts of highly touted police and crime laboratories seem bush-league stuff. 2001 Security Oz No. 7. 104/2 A person usually needs at least a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry, criminalistics, or a related science in order to work in a crime laboratory. crime lord n. originally U.S. a head of a criminal organization. ΚΠ 1924 Chicago Sunday Tribune 16 Nov. 8/1 Where the politicians make alliance with crime, they acquire the vassals of the crime lords, thousands and tens of thousands of votes. 1969 Washington Post 20 Nov. c8/1 Unfortunately for them, they pick a fight with Anthony ‘Baccala’ Pastrumo, a crimelord. 2009 M. Abernethy Double Back xix. 117 The world's crime lords had used bulk coffee shipments to mask a variety of contraband over the years. crime novel n. a novel that has crime as its central theme. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > novel > [noun] > crime or detective novel murder mystery1880 detective story1883 crime novel1884 police novel1889 roman policier1896 true crime1923 detective novel1924 whodunit1930 tec1934 police procedural1957 procedural1963 whydunit1968 1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 14 Nov. 5/1 When we come across a good crime novel by Wilkie Collins, we confess we have that sensation of satisfaction. 1955 Mag. Fantasy & Sci. Fiction Mar. 20 Bloch has written..above-average paperback crime novels. 1976 Publishers Weekly 19 Apr. 81/2 Like the other crime novels from the British author, this is a real page turner. 2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 21 May 21/3 Writers of crime novels in search of authenticity have a hard time with police procedurals these days. crime novelist n. a writer of crime novels; cf. Compounds 2b. ΚΠ 1898 G. Saintsbury in E. Marriage tr. H. de Balzac Gondreville Myst. Pref. p. ix It is certain as anything in history that Balzac begat Poe, and that Poe begat all our English crime-novelists. 1954 Times 16 June 4/4 Up and down the crowded aisles moved the crime novelists,..with nothing more sinister in their amiability than an eagerness to autograph fly-leaves of their own books. 2008 Los Angeles Times 24 Oct. e19 She made the transition from frustrated newspaper reporter to part-time crime novelist to critically acclaimed bestselling author. crime prevention n. the adoption of measures intended to reduce or inhibit criminal activity, esp. by implementing programmes to deter potential offenders or to enhance the security of potential targets. ΘΚΠ society > law > law enforcement > [noun] > crime-prevention crime prevention1846 crime fighting1906 1846 North Wales Chron. (Bangor) 7 July Encouraged to design a measure of crime prevention for Ireland, much needed at one time. 1928 B. Hecht & C. MacArthur Front Page ii. 71 The time to catch 'em is while they're little kids. That's the whole basis of my crime prevention theory. 1983 Daily Tel. 6 Apr. 19/3 Scotland Yard [is] impressed by the success of America's ‘neighbourhood watch’ citizen crime prevention projects. 2003 HomeDIY Dec. 45/3 A Crime Prevention Officer..will come and visit your home and give free advice on the potential weak spots and the ways to secure them. crime rate n. (a) a tax levied to support the criminal justice system (obsolete rare); (b) a measure of the number of crimes recorded in a particular area, over a given period of time, etc. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > tax > types of tax > [noun] > other taxes gartie1533 quidrathe1570 primage1606 carriage tax1781 assessed taxes1796 imperialty1799 crime rate1857 primage1888 use tax1910 takeout1939 graduate tax1967 1857 C. Hursthouse N.Z. I. xix. 600 A judicious system of ‘State Emigration’, might in a very few years be made to relieve us of at least one-half of our entire poor-rates and of one-half of our entire crime rates. 1870 Glasgow Herald 15 Jan. 5/1 In these circumstances the death, pauper, and crime rates were inevitable. 2008 Daily Tel. 7 Feb. 23/5 During the 1980s Washington's crime rate was said to have fallen after a concentrated dose of yogic flying. crime reporter n. a journalist who reports on crimes and criminal trials. ΘΚΠ society > communication > journalism > journalist > [noun] > crime reporter police reporter1813 crime reporter1907 1907 N.Y. Times 26 May (Mag.) 2/3 The awful prevalence of crime would suddenly cease to impress, if our crime reporters and muck-rakers would resolve to write the plain, unadorned truth. 1936 ‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles xix. 200 He..might be only a crime reporter, but he knew just as much about crime..as any police force. 2002 New Yorker 25 Nov. 102/2 He..became, at the age of seventeen, a full-fledged crime reporter on the New York Evening Graphic. crime sheet n. (a) a record of breaches of military regulations (now historical); (b) a police record of crimes or of a particular crime. ΘΚΠ society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > [noun] > police records police blotter1861 charge-sheet1866 murder book1876 blotter1887 charge-book1890 crime sheet1902 mug book1902 occurrence book1929 rap sheet1949 sheet1958 murder file1967 murder log1972 1902 Econ. Jrnl. 12 111 Their crime sheet seems singularly clean. 1917 A. G. Empey From Fire Step 150 The Sergeant-Major keeps what is known as the Crime Sheet. 1969 A. Hawkey Last Post at Mhow 124 The crime sheet was torn up by the adjutant. 1969 Times 1 Feb. 6/5 One local newspaper has begun to publish a daily police crime sheet, with those involved identified by race. 2000 Police Rev. 4 Feb. 10/2 An officer should complete a crime sheet for every allegation even if the officer is not convinced that a crime has been committed. crime spree n. originally U.S. a period of sustained criminal activity, now esp. as carried out by a single criminal or criminal gang. ΚΠ 1919 Fort Wayne (Indiana) News & Sentinel 19 Apr. 11/5 (heading) St. Louis on Crime Spree. 1923 N.Y. Times 8 June 13/1 Two real ‘baby burglars’, sister and brother, one 8, the other 12, were put in the House of Detention today after a brief crime spree. 1974 Times 14 Sept. 2/4 A couple who were said to have travelled about Britain for 18 months on a massive crime spree were sentenced at Exeter Crown Court yesterday. 2007 L. Wood Funny Business xxi. 280 Police later said the offender..had been on a four-month crime spree during which he stole sixteen cars and broke into a dozen houses. crime statistics n. statistics concerning the incidence, type, etc., of crime in a particular area; (now also in singular) a victim of crime. ΚΠ 1852 Southern Literary Messenger Nov. 683/2 Who wonders at the world of iniquity and crime-statistics when our dear little ones..are taught this foul Benthamism? 1915 Manch. Guardian 10 Mar. 12/1 In Petrograd in August crime statistics showed a decrease of 25 per cent. 1982 Ebony June 57/1 This young woman probably could have avoided being a crime statistic if she had been cautious. 2007 A. Walsh & L. Ellis Criminol. ii. 27 All social statistics are suspect to some extent, and crime statistics are perhaps the most suspect of all. crime syndicate n. originally U.S. a large (closely or loosely) affiliated group of gangsters or criminals involved in organized crime. ΚΠ 1899 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 16 Aug. 8/6 The crime syndicate of assassination feared Labori and wanted his life and documents. 1952 J. Lait & L. Mortimer U.S.A. Confidential ii. xvii. 194 As for the crime syndicate being out of Texas, that is just so much soap suds. The Mafia made one of its first major inroads in the United States in Galveston. 2004 Diva Mar. 28/1 Russian organised crime differs considerably and significantly from other crime syndicates: unlike the Chinese Triads and the Japanese Yakuza, whose systems are built upon hierarchy, honour and respect, the Russian Mafia is made up primarily of hundreds of small, independent, utterly ruthless units controlling their own turf or territory. crime victim n. a victim of a crime. ΚΠ 1910 Indianapolis Star 9 Jan. 6/6 (heading) Statement made that mother of heiress was crime victim. 1961 Guardian 21 Apr. 2/5 Questions on the subject of compensation for crime victims were put to Mr Butler, Home Secretary, in the House of Commons yesterday. 2006 M. Jones Criminals of Bible 174 There are actions we can take that can lessen our likelihood of becoming a crime victim. crime watch n. originally U.S. (a) an intensive survey of crime in a particular area; (b) = neighbourhood watch n. at neighbourhood n. Compounds 1b. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > watching or keeping guard > [noun] > guarding the streets > by the citizens of a neighbourhood crime watch1969 neighbourhood watch1972 1969 N.Y. Times 1 July 35/1 (heading) Weekend crime watch shows the stealth of muggers here. 1972 Portsmouth (New Hampsh.) Herald 10 May 9/5 A Portland newspaper applauded the formation of neighborhood crime watch programs. 1990 Times (Nexis) 8 May Plans for neighbourhood noise watchers, similar to existing crime watch schemes, are likely. 1996 Sun (Baltimore) 14 Apr. k 6/4 As a block captain, he organized a block crime watch for his neighborhood. crime wave n. originally U.S. a period of marked increase in the incidence of crime. ΘΚΠ society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime > rise in incidence of crime wave1889 1889 Huntington (Pa.) Globe 31 Jan. 2/3 Has a crime wave struck the Keystone State? 1945 Daily Mirror 8 Dec. 1/4 Scotland Yard..made a new move in its war against the mounting crime wave. 2006 Daily Tel. 21 June 13/1 The hurricane-ravaged city struggled to quell a fast-rising and bloody crime wave. crime writer n. an author who writes about fictional crimes. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > novel > [noun] > crime or detective novel > writer of murder man1890 detectivist1892 murdermonger1900 crime writer1914 detective novelist1926 murdermongeress1957 1914 Manitoba Free Press 5 Sept. (Theatre section) 2/2 The reporter..secures for her another position as stenographer to the crime writer, Clavering. 1946 ‘M. Innes’ What happened at Hazelwood iii. i. 169 Amateur crime-writers are just as painfully incompetent as amateur actors. 1997 C. Barker in D. E. Winter Revelations 441 Three novels produced in the 1930s by the ‘Detection Club’, a conclave of British crime writers. crime writing n. writing that has crime as its theme. ΚΠ 1925 Middletown (N.Y.) Daily Herald 1 June 1/3 He was then asked to join the staff of the ‘New York Tribune’ and continued to specialize in crime writing. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Apr. 238/5 Crime-writing ought to grow closer to the straight novel and away from the master-mind detective story. 2001 M. Cox in V. Buchli & G. Lucas Archaeologies of Contemp. Past xiii. 152 Crime writing began with the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022). crimev. Brit. /krʌɪm/, U.S. /kraɪm/ Forms: 1500s cryme, 1600s 1800s– crime. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: crime n. Etymology: < crime n. Compare Middle French crimer to accuse (16th cent. in an isolated attestation). Compare later criminate v. transitive. To charge (a person) with a crime or offence; (British slang, now rare) spec. to indict and punish (a soldier) for an infraction of military rules. Also: to denounce; to blame. ΘΚΠ society > law > administration of justice > general proceedings > accusation, allegation, or indictment > charge, accuse, or indict [verb (transitive)] wrayc725 forwrayOE beclepec1030 challenge?c1225 indict1303 appeachc1315 aditea1325 appeal1366 impeachc1380 reprovea1382 arraigna1400 calla1400 raign?a1425 to put upa1438 present?a1439 ditec1440 detectc1449 articlec1450 billc1450 peach1465 attach1480 denounce1485 aret1487 accusea1500 filea1500 delate1515 crimea1550 panel1560 articulate1563 prosecute1579 impleada1600 to have up1605 reprosecute1622 tainta1625 criminatea1646 affect1726 to pull up1799 rap1904 run1909 a1550 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Wemyss) lxxx. 1314 He bad at nane sa hardy ware Cristin men for to suppris, Or þame to cryme on ony wys. 1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Lii v/1 To Cryme, criminari. 1623 W. Sclater Quæstion of Tythes 140 [They] would..not crime him of couetousness in that demand. 1846 J. M. MacMullen Camp & Barrack-room 298 He is again intoxicated, creates disturbance in his quarters, is confined by his sergeant, crimed, and brought before the commanding officer. 1890 W. G. Browne in 19th Cent. Nov. 846 He was crimed (i.e. charged before the colonel) with ‘filthy dirtiness and disorderliness on parade’. 1917 A. G. Empey From Fire Step 150 When a man commits an offence, he is ‘Crimed’—that is, his name, number, and offence is entered on the Crime Sheet. 1929 C. E. Montague in Mercury Story Bk. 178 You know, Sergeant, the sort of a squadroon it is where a man's never crimed. 1942 C. Barrett On Wallaby vi. 125 I was certain to be spotted by M.P.s and crimed for being improperly dressed. 1957 N. Squire Theory of Bidding 213 East here has used his judgment... He has been slightly optimistic but cannot be crimed. 1969 A. Truscott Great Bridge Scandal (2004) 209 Schapiro cannot be crimed, therefore, for bidding on. 2003 F. Howard From Prison to Parl. xxi. 85 Chin's rule about making contraband items was simple: if you got caught, you got crimed. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.c1250v.a1550
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crimen.

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crimev.