malefice

See also: maléfice

English

Etymology

From Latin maleficium: compare French maléfice. See malefactor.

Noun

malefice (plural malefices)

1. (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

1. vocative masculine singular of maleficus

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.