Forfeit v.

Forms: α. Infin. 4–6 forfet(e(n, -yn, 5–6 -fett(e, (5 foffet), 5–7 forfait(e, 5–6 -fayt(te, -feyt, (5 -fite, 6 -fyt, -fect, -feict), 6 Sc. forfat, -fit, 6– forfeit. Pa. t. and pa. pple. -ed. Also pa. t. 5 forfett(e; pa. pple. 4–5 forfet(e, 6 -feyte (see FORFEIT a.). β. Sc. 4–7 forfalt, 6–9 forfault, 7–9 forefault; pa. pple. 4 forfalt, 5 forfaut. [f. prec. sb.]

  † 1.  intr. To do amiss, sin, transgress. Obs.

c. 1325.  Prose Psalter, cxviii[i]. 119. Ich told alle the sinȝers of erthe for-fetand [L. prævaricantes.]

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 199. And al this suffred Ihesu crist þat neuere forfeted.

1496.  Dives & Paup. (W. de W.), I. ii. 91. They forfete hyghely ayenst the fyrste commaundement that ought moost for to be charged.

c. 1530.  Ld. Berners, Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814), 348. Ye saye y^t she hath forfeyte with this knight; for he can not forfeyte with her, but y^t she must be accorded with him.

  b.  trans. To transgress against, violate (one’s faith or oath). rare.

  [So OF. forfaire: but there is an admixture of sense 2.]

1654.  trans. Scudery’s Curia Politiæ, 28. Having known you so notoriously to forfeit your Faith.

1800.  trans. Invisible Man, II. 208. You have received my oath; I am incapable of forfeiting it.

  2.  trans. To lose, lose the right to; to render oneself liable to be deprived of (something); also, to have to pay (a sum of money) in consequence of a crime, offence, breach of duty, or engagement. Const. to (the receiver). a. in a strictly legal sense.

  α.  1466.  Mann. & Househ. Exp., 176. They schal kontente me fore my parte of skenes that were foffetede, iiij.li.

1581.  Mulcaster, Positions, xxxvii. (1887), 152. Neither he, ne yet his parentes, can forsake their prince, vpon any colour without forfaiting more then a quarters scholehire.

1663.  Marvell, Corr., xl. Wks. 1872–5, II. 88. The House adjournd till Wednesday fortnight, and to be calld the Munday following, and every one absent to forfeit five pounds.

1723.  De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 242. If I had, I should hardly have risked, not my life only, but effects too, which were all, as I might say, from that moment, forfeited to the English government, and were too evidently in their power to confiscate at their pleasure.

1827.  Jarman, Powell’s Devises, II. 261. The Court held the estate not to be forfeited by non-performance.

1833.  Ht. Martineau, Tale of Tyne, i. 15. You forget what you owe your master for teaching you your trade; and you forget what you forfeit, if you have your indentures broke.

  β.  1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot., III. 75.

1609.  Skene, Reg. Maj., 13. They sall tine and forfalt all their cattell.

1688.  Ess. Magistracy, in Harl. Misc., I. 5. Whoever goes about to subvert it, dissolves the constitution, and forefaults his own title.

1717.  Wodrow Corr. (1843), II. 339. Such, whether heritors or others, who make parties by bribes or threatenings, and in any undue methods are guilty of raising flames, when all concerned ought to be otherwise taken up, should for that time forfault their part in the settlement of a parish.

  b.  gen. To lose by misconduct.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., A. 638.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 4450. To forfet þat faire place & offense make.

1611.  Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xxiv. (1632), 1147. Wee had so forfaited it [Calais] so that wee could enter into no other Article of peace.

1770.  Burke, Pres. Discont., Wks. 1808, II. 303. The first franchise of an Englishman, and that on which all the rest vitally depend, is to be forfeited for some offence which no man knows, and which is to be proved by no known rule whatsoever of legal evidence.

1847.  Hamilton, Rew. & Pun., vi. (1853), 263. The angels forfeited all happiness, they incurred the utmost misery, when they ‘sinned.’

1865.  Trollope, Belton Estate, xxv. 298. She told herself that he had done nothing to forfeit her love.

  c.  In wider sense: To lose or give up, as a necessary consequence.

a. 1400[?].  Morte Arth., 437. Are I be fechyde wyth force, or forfette my landes.

1591.  Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., IV. iii. 27.

1615.  Crooke, Body of Man, 197. But shall we therefore forfet our knowledge because some men cannot conteine their lewd and inordinate affections?

1802.  Med. Jrnl., 389. Nor can any one regulate his professional conduct by it, without forfeiting all claim to consistency; because a sacrifice must unavoidably be made, either of theory to practice, or of practice to theory.

1847.  Emerson, Repr. Men, Montaigne, Wks. (Bohn), I. 350. The final solution in which skepticism is lost, is in the moral sentiment, which never forfeits its supremacy.

1871.  Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., I. viii. 231. If dissolved, the liquid should be used at once and not kept on hand, as it forfeits part of its strength on exposure to the air.

  d.  absol. or intr. To incur the penalty of forfeiture or (obs.) confiscation.

1727.  Pope, etc., Of the Art of Sinking in Poetry, 124. If it be discovered, that any actress is got with child during the interludes of any play, wherein she hath a part, it shall be reckoned a neglect of her business, and she shall forfeit accordingly.

1755.  Mem. Capt. P. Drake, i. 2. The Family remained in peaceable Possession of this Estate from their first Arrival, until the War of 1641, when, with many more, they forfeited, and were driven to shift for themselves.

  3.  Of the executive power: a. To subject (land, etc.) to forfeiture; to confiscate. Obs. exc. Hist.

  α.  1382.  Wyclif, Dan. ii. 5. Ȝour housis shuln be maad commoun, or forfetid [Vulg. publicabuntur].

1611.  Bible, Ezra, x. 8. All his substance should be forfeited, and himselfe separated from the congregation of those that had beene carried away.

1700.  Dryden, Pref. Fables (Globe), 495. If there happen to be found an irreverent Expression, or a Thought too wanton, they are crept into my Verses through my Inadvertency: If the Searchers find any in the Cargo, let them be stav’d or forfeited, like Counterbanded goods.

  β.  1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XIII. 498.

a. 1834.  Surtees, Poem, in Taylor, Life (Surtees), 246.

1895.  Crockett, Men of Moss-hags, xxiii. 163. As for Earlstoun, we heard it was to be forfaulted very soon, and given to Robert Grier of Lag, who was a very grab-all among them.

  b.  Chiefly Sc. To subject (a person) to forfeiture or confiscation (of estates, etc.); to confiscate the estates of. Obs. exc. Hist.

  α.  a. 1400[?].  Morte Arth., 1155. We mone be forfetede in faith, and flemyde for ever!

1565.  Earl of Bedford, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. II. 209. That the Earles Argile, Morraye, Rothes, and their complices sholde have byne forfited yf the Kinge coulde not be perswaded throughe this meanes to be their frend.

1639.  Drumm. of Hawth., Queries of State, Wks. (1711), 177. Whether it be lawful to proscribe and forfeit Country-men, professing one Religion, without Process intented or Law, against the King’s Authority, and without any Warrant, save that of the Populace?

1707.  Dk. Athol, in Vulpone, 20. As it is the hight of Injustice, and against all the Laws and Practices of this and all other well govern’d Nations to forfeit any Person without a hainous Crime; So its against all Law to forfeit either the Peers that are now present, or those that are Minors or Absent, without being so much as called or cited for that end.

1816.  Scott, Old Mort., xxix. Every person who could ride or run at the King’s command, was summoned to arms, apparantly with the purpose of forfeiting and fining such men of property whom their principles might deter from joining the royal standard, though prudence prevented them from joining that of the insurgent Presbyterians.

1862.  Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const. xv. 236. In one year (1651) seventy individuals, chiefly of rank and fortune, were forfeited for their adherence to the King.

  β.  1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 637.

1567.  Satir. Poems Reform., iii. 201.

1582–8.  Hist. James VI. (1804), 71. He [the regent] directit furth some soulderis to camp besyd the hous, that na victualles should be permittit to enter, and in the meane tyme causit forfalt my Lord Fleyming and his brother keeparis thairof.

1676.  W. Row, Contin. Blair’s Autobiog., xi. (1848), 350–1. The Parliament did forfault all those that were upon that jury that took the late King’s life, ‘and’ declared them murderers, and traitors, &c.

1755.  Carte, Hist. Eng., IV. 284. The Scotch parliament met on June 2, notwithstanding his majesty’s prorogation of it till July: and forefaulted general Ruthven, for refusing to surrender the castle of Edenburgh, and seized all his money, wherein his estate consisted.

  † 4.  To exact a forfeit or fine from. Also absol.

c. 1592.  Marlowe, Jew of Malta, II. ii.

1736.  Fielding, Pasquin, 1. I dare not go into the Green-room; my salary is not high enough: I shall be forfeited if I go in there.

  † 5.  To cause the forfeiture, loss, or ruin of. Obs.

  α.  a. 1611.  Beaum. & Fl., Maid’s Trag., IV. i.

1670.  Dryden, The Conquest of Granada, I. I. i.

1673.  Essex Papers (Camden), I. 62. Y^e Officers shall not cheat y^e soldiers, I am enough aware of that, and they all know that any Practice of this kind would immediately forfeit their commands.

1679.  L. Addison, Mahumedism, 29. This had utterly forfeited him the reputation of a Prophet, had not Gabriel (as he pretended) brought him several Verses from God, to justifie what he had one, and also to permit the Moors a liberty to embrace their she-slaves with as much freedome as their Wives (a custom not yet antiquated among the Mahumedans).

1704–5.  Wycherley, Lett. to Pope, 25 Jan., in Pole’s Wks. (1737), V. 4. Your good wit never forfeited your good judgment, but in your partiality to me and mine.

  β.  1639.  Chas. I., Declar. Tumults Scot., Wks. 361. Albeit … yet that doth not … forefault the Kirk’s right.