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felo de se. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
felo de se, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
felo de se in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From Latin felō (“felon”) dē (“of”) sē (“himself”).
Noun
felo de se (uncountable)
- A crime committed against oneself, in particular suicide.
- Synonym: suicide
1775–1776 (date written), [Thomas Paine], “Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, with Concise Remarks on the English Constitution”, in Common Sense; , Philadelphia, Pa.: R Bell, , published 10 January 1776, →OCLC, page 10:[H]ow came the King by a povver vvhich the People are afraid to truſt and alvvays obliged to check? Such a povver could not be the gift of a vviſe People, neither can any povver vvhich needs checking be from God: yet the proviſion vvhich the conſtitution makes, ſuppoſes ſuch a povver to exiſt. But the proviſion is unequal to the taſk, the means either cannot, or vvill not accompliſh the end, and the vvhole affair is a Felo de ſe: […]
John Hunt,
, published
1823,
→OCLC, stanza XCIV:
The Varlet was not an ill-favoured knave; / A good deal like a Vulture in the face / With a hook nose and a Hawk’s eye which gave / A smart & sharper-looking sort of grace / To his whole aspect, which though rather grave / Was by no means so ugly as his case, / But that indeed was hopeless as can be— / Quite a poetic felony “de se.”—]