malefice
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See also: maléfice
English
Etymology
From Latin maleficium: compare French maléfice. See malefactor.
Pronunciation
Noun
malefice (plural malefices)
- (archaic) An evil deed; evilness; enchantment or sorcery.
- 1912, Clark Ashton Smith, The Medusa of the Skies:
- On hills like tumuli, and waters mute,
A whiteness steals as of a world made still
When reptant Death at last rears absolute—
An earth now frozen by malefice of eyes
Aeonian dooms and realm-deep rigors fill—
The gaze of that Medusa of the skies
References
- “malefice”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Latin
Adjective
malefice
References
- “malefice”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- malefice in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.