| 释义 |
▪ I. crime, n.|kraɪm|
Also 4–6 cryme.
[a. F. crime, in 12th c. crimne, ad. L. crīmen judgement, accusation, offence, f. root of cer-n-ĕre, crē-tum to decide, give judgement, etc.]
1. a. An act punishable by law, as being forbidden by statute or injurious to the public welfare. (Properly including all offences punishable by law, but commonly used only of grave offences.)
1382Wyclif Acts xxxiii. 29 Hauynge no cryme worthi the deeth, or bondis. c1400Mandeville (1839) xxviii. 287 Ȝif the kyng him self do ony homycydie, or ony cryme. 1526Tindale Acts xxv. 16 The Cryme wher of he is accused. 1607Shakes. Timon iii. v. 83 If by this Crime, he owes the Law his life. 1769Blackstone Comm. IV. 5 A crime, or misdemesnor, is an act committed, or omitted, in violation of a public law, either forbidding or commanding it. 1832Austin Jurispr. (1879) I. xix. 417 An offence which is pursued at the discretion of the injured party or his representative is a civil injury. An offence which is pursued by the Sovereign or by the subordinates of the Sovereign is a Crime. 1867Manch. Examiner 10 Oct., With the moralist bribery is a sin; with the legislator a crime.
¶ a blunder worse than a crime: see blunder n. 2.
b. collective sing. Action of such kind viewed collectively or abstractly; violation of law.
1485Caxton St. Wenefr. 3 Hast slayn by cryme as an homycyde this noble vyrgyn. 1760Goldsm. Cit. W. lxxiii, I was imprisoned, though a stranger to crime. 1879Froude Cæsar viii. 72 Men steeped in crime. 1891Gladstone in Daily News 3 Oct. 6/3 When they talk of crime in Ireland you must understand that the word bears a totally different meaning to what the word means in England.
2. a. More generally: An evil or injurious act; an offence, a sin; esp. of a grave character.
1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) 11 Longe after this began this cursed cryme. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 238 b, All y⊇ crymes of y⊇ tonge, as sclaunders..and prevy backbytynges. 1604Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 26 If you bethinke your selfe of any Crime Vnreconcil'd as yet to Heauen, and Grace. 1667Milton P.L. i. 214 That with reiterated crimes he might Heap on himself damnation. 1706Addison Poems, Rosamond i. i, 'Tis her crime to be loved, 'Tis her crime to have charms. 1842Miall Nonconf. II. 1 If in future we should go astray, we can plead no excuse in extenuation of the crime.
b. collective sing. Wrong-doing, sin.
c1440Gesta Rom. xxii. 74 (Harl. MS.) For no man may lyve withoute cryme. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 75 Whilest louing thou mayst loued be with equall crime. 1667Milton P.L. i. 79 One next himself in power, and next in crime. 1865Whittier Laus Deo ii, Ring, O bells! Every stroke exulting tells Of the burial hour of crime.
†3. Charge or accusation; matter of accusation.
c1386Chaucer Sec. Nun's T. 455 For we bere a cristen name Ye putte on vs a cryme and eek a blame. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (1531) 66 b, To whome, they beynge most innocent, hath ben put the cryme of fornicacyon. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 92 The common people raysed a great cryme upon the Archbishop. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 1181, I rue That errour now, which is become my crime, And thou th' accuser.
4. Comb. crime-drama, crime fiction, crime film, crime magazine, crime-mystery, crime novel, crime play, crime-preventers, crime-prevention, crime-proneness, crime-romance, crime-story; crime-promoting, crime-prone, crime-stained adjs.; crime-buster slang, one who represses organized crime; crime reporter, a reporter (sense 2 b) who describes crimes and the trials of criminals; crime sheet, in the army, a list in which the names of offenders and their offences are entered; crime wave, a sharp rise in the incidence of crime; crime-writer, an author who writes about fictional crimes; hence crime-writing.
1952Manch. Guardian Weekly 31 July 7/1 The tall prim *crime-buster came forward. 1962K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed i. 9 A man who takes pleasure in being called crime-buster promises without delay to put vice on ice in Montreal.
1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage ix. 119 An English school of *crime-drama arose and flourished.
1924C. S. Montanye in Saucy Stories Jan. 41/2, I write *crime fiction for the magazines. 1936Daily Tel. 16 Oct. 7/2 ‘Middle Class Murder’ is first-class crime fiction.
1935Ann. Reg. 1934 ii. 307 A cinema in Chicago where he was enjoying a ‘*crime film’.
1940J. Cary Charley is My Darling xi. 63 Charley is telling stories out of some *crime magazine.
1906Daily Chron. 26 May 7/5 The many strange features of the case certainly make it one of the most remarkable *crime-mysteries which have occupied the attention of the London police for some years.
1889Sat. Rev. 16 Mar. 329/1 [These] are both *crime-novels.
1952Granville Dict. Theatr. Terms 53 *Crime play, a thriller featuring murder, theft, or crime generally.
1888Pall Mall G. 10 Oct., The thief-takers and *crime-preventers of London.
1928Hecht & MacArthur Front Page ii. 71 The time to catch 'em is while they're little kids. That's the whole basis of my *crime prevention theory. 1944‘G. Orwell’ in Horizon Oct. 240 The distinction between crime and crime-prevention practically disappears.
1823Mill Autobiogr. (1924) 273 The Catholic priesthood added..the *crime-promoting doctrine of indulgences.
1960L. T. Wilkins Delinquent Generations 1 Children born during the war might be more *crime-prone than others. Ibid. 8 The greatest ‘*crime-proneness’ is thus found to be associated with that birth group.
1936‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles xix. 200 He..might be only a *crime reporter, but he knew just as much about crime..as any police force. 1951Wodehouse Old Reliable iv. 48 Bill in her time had been..crime reporter, sob sister, [etc.].
1906Daily Chron. 15 May 3/5 All the stock characters of..*crime-romance are here.
1915D. O. Barnett Lett. 41 Spent the morning filling up ‘*crime sheets’ with all their offences. 1917Empey From Fire Step 150 The Sergeant-Major keeps what is known as the Crime Sheet. When a man commits an offence, he is ‘Crimed’—that is, his name, number, and offence is entered on the Crime Sheet.
[1886Ainslie Reynard the Fox, The rascal Reynard, crime-bestained.] 1898Westm. Gaz. 14 July 2/1 She wondered..what manner of hideous *crime-stained countenance that paper hid.
1934J. Carter New Paths in Book Coll. 35 Mystery stories, *crime stories, spy stories. 1936‘G. Orwell’ Keep Aspidistra Flying xi. 295 Fools demanding crime-stories and sex-stories and romances.
1920Times 21 Jan. 12/1 (headline) *Crime Wave. Murder, robbery and theft. 1945Daily Mirror 8 Dec. 1/4 Scotland Yard..made a new move in its war against the mounting crime wave.
1946‘M. Innes’ What happened at Hazelwood iii. i. 169 Amateur *crime-writers are just as painfully incompetent as amateur actors. 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Apr. 238/5 A category-debate about whether *crime-writing ought to grow closer to the straight novel and away from the master-mind detective story.
▸ crime watch n. orig. U.S. (a) an intensive survey of crime in a particular area; (b) = neighbourhood watch n. at neighbourhood n. Compounds 1b.
1969N.Y. Times 1 July 35/1 (heading) Weekend *crime watch shows the stealth of muggers here. 1972Portsmouth (New Hampsh.) Herald 10 May 9/5 A Portland newspaper applauded the formation of neighborhood crime watch programs. 1990Times (Nexis) 8 May Plans for neighbourhood noise watchers, similar to existing crime watch schemes, are likely. 1996Sun (Baltimore) 14 Apr. k 6/4 As a block captain, he organized a block crime watch for his neighborhood.
▪ II. crime, v.
[cf. OF. crimer, f. crime.]
trans. To charge with a crime or offence; to accuse. Now esp. in army use.
1570Levins Manip. 132/30 To cryme, criminari. 1621W. Sclater Tythes (1623) 140 [They] would..not crime him of couetousness in that demand. 1890W. G. Browne in 19th Cent. Nov. 846 He was crimed (i.e. charged before the colonel) with ‘filthy dirtiness and disorderliness on parade’. 1917[see crime sheet]. 1929C. E. Montague in Mercury Story Bk. 178 You know, Sergeant, the sort of a squadroon it is where a man's never crimed. 1957N. Squire Theory of Bidding 213 East here has used his judgment... He has been slightly optimistic but cannot be crimed. 1957E. Hyams Into the Dream 91 He'd crime a man as soon as look at him. |