FORFEIT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Forfeit

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/fˈɔrfɪt/ Listen

noun

Forfeit n.

Injury; wrong; mischief. (Obs. & R.) "To seek arms upon people and country that never did us any forfeit."

A thing forfeit or forfeited; what is or may be taken from one in requital of a misdeed committed; that which is lost, or the right to which is alienated, by a crime, offense, neglect of duty, or breach of contract; hence, a fine; a mulct; a penalty; as, he who murders pays the forfeit of his life. "Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal Remit thy other forfeits."

Something deposited and redeemable by a sportive fine; whence the game of forfeits. "Country dances and forfeits shortened the rest of the day."

verb

Forfeit v. t. (past & past part. forfeited; pres. part. forfeiting) To lose, or lose the right to, by some error, fault, offense, or crime; to render one's self by misdeed liable to be deprived of; to alienate the right to possess, by some neglect or crime; as, to forfeit an estate by treason; to forfeit reputation by a breach of promise; with to before the one acquiring what is forfeited. "(They) had forfeited their property by their crimes." "Undone and forfeited to cares forever!"

Forfeit v. i.

To be guilty of a misdeed; to be criminal; to transgress. (Obs.)

To fail to keep an obligation. (Obs.) "I will have the heart of him if he forfeit."

Forfeit past part., adj. In the condition of being forfeited; subject to alienation. "Once more I will renew His lapsèd powers, though forfeite."

adjective

Forfeit adj. Lost or alienated for an offense or crime; liable to penal seizure. "Thy wealth being forfeit to the state." "To tread the forfeit paradise."

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Etymology of 'Forfeit'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Forfeit" Quotes from Famous Books

... at him with dilated eyes. Every impulse in her terrified heart warned her to turn and fly from the place, but it was all in vain. She could not have moved hand or foot if her very life had been the forfeit. ...

— Mischievous Maid Faynie • Laura Jean Libbey

... remained in prison. During all that time Lucie was never sure but that her husband's head would be struck off next day. When at length arraigned as an emigrant whose life was forfeit to the Republic, he pleaded that he had come back to save a citizen's life. That night he sat by the fire with his family, a free man. Lucie at last was ...

— The World's Greatest Books, Vol III • Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton, Eds.

... It was then that History as we understand it began to be understood, and the illustrious dynasty of scholars arose to whom we still look both for method and material. Unlike the dreaming prehistoric world, ours knows the need and the duty to make itself master of the earlier times, and to forfeit nothing of their wisdom or their warnings 15, and has devoted its best energy and treasure to the sovereign purpose of detecting error and vindicating entrusted ...

— Lectures on Modern history • Baron John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

... Brunhilda, queen of Iceland. Fair was she of face and strong beyond compare. If a knight would woo and win her he must surpass her in three contests: leaping, hurling the spear and pitching the stone. If he failed in even one, he must forfeit his life. ...

— Famous Men of the Middle Ages • John H. Haaren

... natives were perfectly in the right. At that time, the law against the traffic in ardent spirits (every now and then suspended and revived) happened to be in force; and finding a large quantity on the premises of Victor, a low, knavish adventurer from Marseilles, the Tahitians pronounced it forfeit. ...

— Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas • Herman Melville

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