felons

Noun (1)

felon (plural felons)

1. (criminal law) A person who has committed a felony (“a serious criminal offence”); specifically, one who has been tried and convicted of such a crime.
   • I doe defie thy coniurations: / And doe attach thee as a fellon heere.c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, published 1597, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], signature K, verso
2. (obsolete) An evil or wicked person.
   • But he, the King of Heav'n, obſcure on high, / Bar'd his red Arm, and launching from the Sky / His vvrithen Bolt, not ſhaking empty Smoak, / Dovvn to the deep Abyſs the flaming Felon ſtrook.1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 386, lines...
3. (broadly, obsolete) A predatory animal regarded as cruel or wicked.

Noun (2)

felon (plural felons)

1. A small infected sore; an abscess, a boil.
   1. (often, specifically) A whitlow (“infection near or under a fingernail or toenail”).
      • He hev been away from home for a few days, since he's had that felon upon his finger; for a' said, since I can't work I'll have a hollerday.1874, Thomas Hardy, “In the Sun—a Harbinger”, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 31

See all 8 meanings of felon