illegaladj.n.
/ɪˈliːɡl/, U.S. /ɪ(l)ˈliɡ(ə)l/, /əˈliɡ(ə)l/ A. adj. † b. Lawless, irregular. Obsolete. rare.
a. Not legal or lawful; contrary to, or forbidden by, law.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > rule of law > illegality > [adjective]
unleefula1382
unlawfula1387
wrongfulc1386
unleesomec1400
unlisible?c1425
wrong1480
unlegitimate1602
illicit1606
illegal1626
non licet1628
adulterine1640
unlegal1640
illegitimate1645
illegitime1669
wrongous1671
contraband1686
illicitous1693
sly1829
unprocedural1929
bent1930
bust-out1934
bandulu1980
1626 [implied in: 1626 in S. R. Gardiner Documents Impeachm. Duke of Buckingham (1889) 69 The Article..touching the illegalness of embarguing. (at illegalness n.)].
1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre ii. viii. 54 Gibellinus..concluded the election of Ebremarus to be illegall and void.
1647 16 Quæres to Prælates Ded. 2 These Quæres will proove fatall to your..elegall Ecclesiasticall Iurisdictions.
1689 R. Milward Selden's Table-talk 36 In all times the Princes in England have done something illegal, to get money.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. xxxv. 51 They have set aside a return as illegal.
1817 W. Selwyn Abridgem. Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 925 Intended for carrying on an illegal commerce.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xxi. 605 To print such a tract without the approbation of the licenser was illegal.
ΚΠ
1728 R. Morris Ess. Anc. Archit. 20 How preferable the Beauties of ancient Architecture are to the illegal Practices of our modern Builders.
B. n.
1. = illegal immigrant n. at Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > migrant > [noun] > immigrant > illegal
illegal1939
illegal immigrant1939
overstayer1959
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > migrant > [noun] > immigrant > illegal > Jewish
illegal1939
illegal immigrant1939
1939 Times 31 May 11/1 Placing the illegals in concentration camps is no solution.
1946 A. Koestler Thieves in Night 328 The old tramper was lost—but there were two others on their way with eight hundred illegals this time.
1960 H. S. Agar Saving Remnant viii. 208 The British announced that all future ‘illegals’ would be taken to Cyprus.
1970 Sunday Times 1 Feb. (Colour Suppl.) 29/4 In the year 1968 alone 142,000 illegal immigrants were caught... There is no onus upon an employer not to take on illegals.
2. A Soviet secret agent working in a foreign country.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > political police > [noun] > secret service agent > in a foreign country > Soviet
illegal1968
1968 W. Garner Deep, Deep Freeze xii. 133 An Illegal's first job was to pass vital information with the minimum of delay.
1969 W. Garner Us or Them War xxxiii. 251 What if he'd come over as an ‘illegal’, with a long-term programme?
1969 H. MacInnes Salzburg Connection xx. 281 We'd like to catch that colonel and the rest of his illegals.
Compounds
Special combinations.
illegal immigrant n. originally a Jew who entered or attempted to enter Palestine without official permission during the later years of the British mandate; now used more generally; so illegal immigration.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > furnishing with inhabitants > migration > immigration > [noun] > illegal
illegal immigration1939
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > migrant > [noun] > immigrant > illegal
illegal1939
illegal immigrant1939
overstayer1959
society > inhabiting and dwelling > furnishing with inhabitants > migration > immigration > [noun] > illegal > of Jews
illegal immigration1939
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > migrant > [noun] > immigrant > illegal > Jewish
illegal1939
illegal immigrant1939
1939 Times 31 May 11/1 Illegal immigration into Palestine probably dates back to Turkish times, but it is now assuming alarming proportions.
1939 Times 31 May 11/1 These illegal immigrants come practically penniless, and have no documents to indicate their origin.
1946 Times 23 Sept. 4/3 The British ‘clamp down’ on illegal immigrants.
1949 A. Koestler Promise & Fulfilm. vi. 59 The hunting down of ‘illegal immigrants’ became gradually an obsession with the Palestine authorities.
1963 J. Joesten They call it Intelligence ii. viii. 73 Once in this country, Abel headed straight for New York, a good place for an illegal immigrant.
1969 New Yorker 29 Nov. 151/1 Moshe Pearlman..an organiser of illegal immigration to Palestine..for all his wit and sophistication, still takes his Zionism very seriously.
1970 [see sense B. 1]. 1970 Times 2 July 1/4 Police..took away 40 men who had come from the Punjab... All the men had been established as illegal immigrants.
illegal operation n. an abortion procured illegally.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > operations on specific parts or conditions > [noun] > operations on sex organs > operations on female sex organs > obstetrical operations > for abortion
termination1904
illegal operation1910
vacuum aspiration1967
scrape1968
1910 G. K. Chesterton George Bernard Shaw 145 Mr. Granville Barker's play of Waste, in which the woman dies from an illegal operation.
1927 Rev. Eng. Stud. Oct. 433 There is a very interesting misuse of words..due..to a yet older human failing: taboo. As instances may serve lavatory, illegal operation, social evil, a certain disease.
1938 ‘M. Benney’ Scapegoat Dances iv. 46 He had given his knowledge, time, and money to relieving the distresses of the street-walkers..when necessary, performing illegal operations on them.
1943 G. Greene Ministry of Fear i. ii. 24 A man who deals in something disreputable—pornographic books or illegal operations.
1958 New Statesman 7 June 722/1 Estimates suggest that something like 200,000 illegal operations are performed every year in this country.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1626