/forfeit/

 

/forfeit/

 

Verb.

 

-) Pronunciation and accent: fɔːfɪt. 

 

-) Etymology: from the adjective FORFEIT, from Old French forfait (= crime), participle of forfaire (= to forfeit, transgress), from Latin foris (= out of doors, abroad, beyond) + facere (= to do).

 

-) Preterite tense: forfeited. Preterite participle: forfeited.

 

-) Present participle: forfeiting.

 

-) It is dated from the beginning of 1300.

Intransitively: 1. Obsolete and pristine acceptation: to commit a misdeed.

 

2. To incur the penalty of forfeiture. 

Transitively: 1. a. (Of a person convicted or accused of a misdeed, crime, offence, etc.) to lose, or lose the right to, as a part of the punishment, or as the punishment itself, he\she incurs, or in consequence of the accusation; to become liable to be deprived of (something or someone) in consequence of a crime he\she committed. b. To have to pay (money) as a forfeit, in consequence of a crime, a fault, etc.

 

-) Translation: perdre, in French; perder, in Spanish; perdere, in Italian.

If any seaman absent himself from the vessel to which he belongs without leave, he shall, or every day's absence, forfeit two days pay to the use of Greenwich-hospital…

David Steel… Manual… 1795

What Edward had done to forfeit the right of eldest son, might have puzzled many people to find out; and what Robert had done to succeed to it, might have puzzled them still more.

Jane Austen… Sense and Sensibility 1811

They pronounced the king an apostate, an assassin, and a tyrant: he was said to have forfeited his title to the sovereignty.

John Lingard… The History of England 1827

By a singular provision, he required every settler, if a married man, to bring over his wife within eighteen months, on pain of forfeiting his estate.

William Prescott… Conquest of Mexico 1843

It was provided […] that slaves, in any event, should be forfeited by all those who had shown themselves unworthy to hold them by neglect or ill-usage.

William Prescott… Conquest of Peru 1847

It was pretended […] that the city of London had by some irregularities forfeited its municipal privileges. 

Thomas Macaulay… The History of England 1848

By her father's will she had been contracted in marriage with her distant relative, Charles Heathcote, with the proviso that if, on attaining the age of nineteen, she felt averse to the match, she should forfeit a certain estate in Wales which had once belonged to the Heathcotes...

Charles Lever… One of them 1862

-) With the preposition to + noun of the receiver:

 

Attainted of felony, thy lands and abbey will be forfeited to the crown, and they shall be sold, as I have told thee, to John Braddyll and Richard Assheton, who will be rulers here in thy stead.

William Ainsworth… The Lancashire Witches 1848

-) With the preposition by + noun of what stands for the crime, misdeed, etc.

 

[…] who forfeited it by his rebellion to the conqueror.

Francis Blomefield… County of Norfolk 1769

2. Hence: to lose (something) in consequence of a fault, misconduct or error.

 

I could have wished to die in your good opinion, which I am afraid I shall forfeit by the last act of my life; but if you cannot acquit me, I know you will at least preserve some regard for the memory of an unfortunate young man who loved you.

Tobias Smollett… The Adventures… 1748

He pretended, that the citizens of Granada had forfeited their title to his fulfilling the terms of peace, by an insurrection […]

Robert Watson… Philip the Second 1778

The romantic story of the ring, which, it is said, the queen had given to Essex, in a moment of fondness, as a pledge of her affection, with an intimation, "that if ever he forfeited her favour, if he sent it back to her, the sight of it would ensure her forgiveness," must not be lightly rejected.

Agnes Strickland… Queens of England 1844

He felt that he had forfeited the confidence of his commander.

William Prescott… Conquest of Peru 1847

[…] a short distance from hence are hidden your father and a body of men; they are aware we are here, and have not the courage to make a rush to capture us, for they know one life will be forfeited if they attempt it.

Pierce Egan… Robin Hood… 1850

[…] if I have forfeited the good opinion of your sister, the loss of her friendship will counterbalance all the rest.

William Ainsworth… The Lancashire Witches 1848

The large farmers prospered; the poor forfeited their tenures.

James Froude… Henry the Eighth 1909

3. Hence: (the subject is something or someone) to lose (something) as a necessary consequence or result.

 

Yet when we consider her beauty, her accomplishments, and her many misfortunes, she so strongly excites our sympathies, that not the lapse of years, nor yet her many deviations from the path of rectitude, can forfeit her claim to our regard.

The Ladies' Repository, vol. 1 1841

Her figure was as slender as when she was nineteen, and only forfeited its claim to the charms of that age by being a little more angular and thinner.

Anne Marsh… Angela 1848

4. Obsolete: (of a government or executive agent) to subject (something) to forfeiture or confiscation; to subject (a person) to forfeiture of property; to confiscate the estate or possessions of; -used of government action. 

-) Words derived from the verb FORFEIT: forfeitable, forfeitableness, forfeiture, forfeiter, forfeiting.