different between mulct vs forfeit

English

Etymology

From Middle French mulcter (“to fine, punish”), from Latin multa (“penalty, fine”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?lkt/
• Rhymes: -?lkt

Noun

mulct (plural mulcts)

1. (law) A fine or penalty, especially a pecuniary one.
   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, I:

     juries cast up what a wife is worth, / By laying whate'er sum in mulct they please on / The lover, who must pay a handsome price, / Because it is a marketable vice.

   • 1846, Thomas Babington Macauley, The History of England from the Accession of James II, Volume 3, Porter & Coates, Chapter XI:

     The Act of Uniformity had laid a mulct of a hundred pounds on every person who, not having received episcopal ordination, should presume to administer the Eucharist.

   • 1846, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic, 10th ed., Volume I, page xxxvi, note

     […] by the Salic law, no higher mulct was imposed for killing, than for kidnapping a slave.

Translations

Verb

mulct (third-person singular simple present mulcts, present participle mulcting, simple past and past participle mulcted)

1. To impose such a fine or penalty.
2. To swindle (someone) out of money.

Translations

English

Etymology

Middle English forfait from ca. 1300, from Old French forfait (“crime”), originally the past participle of forfaire (“to transgress”), and Medieval Latin foris factum. During the 15th century, the sense shifted from the crime to the penalty for the crime.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f??.f?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?f??.f?t/
• Rhymes: -??(?)f?t

Noun

forfeit (countable and uncountable, plural forfeits)

1. A penalty for or consequence of a misdemeanor.
   • 1629, John Milton, On the Morning of Christ's Nativity

     That he our deadly forfeit should release

2. A thing forfeited; that which is taken from somebody in requital of a misdeed committed; that which is lost, or the right to which is alienated, by a crime, breach of contract, etc.

   He who murders pays the forfeit of his own life.
3. Something deposited and redeemable by a sportive fine as part of a game.

   • Country dances and forfeits shortened the rest of the day.

4. (obsolete, rare) Injury; wrong; mischief.
   • a. 1789, Barry St. Leger, Siege of Nicopolis

     to seek arms upon people and country that never did us any forfeit

Translations

Verb

forfeit (third-person singular simple present forfeits, present participle forfeiting, simple past and past participle forfeited or (rare) forfeit)

1. To suffer the loss of something by wrongdoing or non-compliance

   He forfeited his last chance of an early release from jail by repeatedly attacking another inmate.

2. To lose a contest, game, match, or other form of competition by voluntary withdrawal, by failing to attend or participate, or by violation of the rules

   Because only nine players were present, the football team was forced to forfeit the game.

3. To be guilty of a misdeed; to be criminal; to transgress.
4. To fail to keep an obligation.

Synonyms

• (lose a contest): capitulate, surrender, disqualify
• (voluntarily give up): forgo, withgo

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

forfeit (not comparable)

1. Lost or alienated for an offense or crime; liable to penal seizure.
   • 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, May-Day

     to tread the forfeit paradise

Anagrams

• toffier