Villainy

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Villainy \Vil"lain*y\, n.; pl. {Villainies}. [OE. vilanie, OF.
     vilanie, vilainie, vileinie, vilanie, LL. villania. See
     {Villain}, n.] [Written also {villany}.]
     1. The quality or state of being a villain, or villainous;
        extreme depravity; atrocious wickedness; as, the villainy
        of the seducer. "Lucre of vilanye." --Chaucer.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              The commendation is not in his wit, but in his
              villainy.                             --Shak.
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     2. Abusive, reproachful language; discourteous speech; foul
        talk. [Archaic]
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              He never yet not vileinye ne said
              In all his life, unto no manner wight. --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              In our modern language, it [foul language] is termed
              villainy, as being proper for rustic boors, or men
              of coarsest education and employment. --Barrow.
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              Villainy till a very late day expressed words foul
              and disgraceful to the utterer much oftener than
              deeds.                                --Trench.
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     3. The act of a villain; a deed of deep depravity; a crime.
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              Such villainies roused Horace into wrath. --Dryden.
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              That execrable sum of all villainies commonly called
              a slave trade. --John Wesley.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  villainy
       n 1: the quality of evil by virtue of villainous behavior [syn: {villainousness}]
       2: a treacherous or vicious act

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  30 Moby Thesaurus words for "villainy":
     abomination, atrocity, bad, baseness, chicanery, degradation,
     disgrace, error, evil, infamy, iniquity, knavery, knavishness,
     moral turpitude, obliquity, peccancy, rascality, rascalry,
     reprobacy, roguery, roguishness, scampishness, scandal,
     scoundrelism, shame, sin, turpitude, vileness, villainousness,
     wrong