Malice

6 definitions found

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

  malice \mal"ice\ (m[a^]l"[i^]s), n. [F. malice, fr. L. malitia,
     from malus bad, ill, evil, prob. orig., dirty, black; cf. Gr.
     me`las black, Skr. mala dirt. Cf. {Mauger}.]
     1. Enmity of heart; malevolence; ill will; a spirit
        delighting in harm or misfortune to another; a disposition
        to injure another; a malignant design of evil. "Nor set


        down aught in malice." --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Envy, hatred, and malice are three distinct passions
              of the mind.                          --Ld. Holt.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Law) Any wicked or mischievous intention of the mind; a
        depraved inclination to mischief; an intention to vex,
        annoy, or injure another person, or to do a wrongful act
        without just cause or cause or excuse; a wanton disregard
        of the rights or safety of others; willfulness.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Malice aforethought} or {Malice prepense}, malice previously
        and deliberately entertained.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Spite; ill will; malevolence; grudge; pique; bitterness;
          animosity; malignity; maliciousness; rancor; virulence.
  
     Usage: See {Spite}. -- {Malevolence}, {Malignity},
            {Malignancy}. Malice is a stronger word than
            malevolence, which may imply only a desire that evil
            may befall another, while malice desires, and perhaps
            intends, to bring it about. Malignity is intense and
            deepseated malice. It implies a natural delight in
            hating and wronging others. One who is malignant must
            be both malevolent and malicious; but a man may be
            malicious without being malignant.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  Proud tyrants who maliciously destroy
                  And ride o'er ruins with malignant joy.
                                                    --Somerville.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  in some connections, malignity seems rather more
                  pertinently applied to a radical depravity of
                  nature, and malignancy to indications of this
                  depravity, in temper and conduct in particular
                  instances.                        --Cogan.
            [1913 Webster]

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

  Malice \Mal"ice\, v. t.
     To regard with extreme ill will. [Obs.]
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  malice
       n 1: feeling a need to see others suffer [syn: {maliciousness}, {spite},
             {spitefulness}, {venom}]
       2: the quality of threatening evil [syn: {malevolence}, {malevolency}]

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

  75 Moby Thesaurus words for "malice":
     Anglophobia, Russophobia, abhorrence, abomination, animosity,
     animus, antagonism, anti-Semitism, antipathy, aversion, bane,
     belligerence, bigotry, bile, bitchiness, bitterness, clash,
     clashing, collision, conflict, contention, cussedness, despite,
     despitefulness, detestation, devilment, devilry, deviltry, dislike,
     down, enmity, evil intent, execration, friction, grudge,
     harmfulness, hate, hatefulness, hatred, hostility, ill will,
     iniquitousness, invidiousness, loathing, maleficence, malevolence,
     malice aforethought, malice prepense, maliciousness, malignance,
     malignancy, malignity, meanness, misandry, misanthropy, misogyny,
     nastiness, noxiousness, odium, orneriness, poison, quarrelsomeness,
     race hatred, racism, repugnance, resentment, spite, spitefulness,
     spleen, umbrage, venom, vials of hate, vials of wrath, wickedness,
     xenophobia
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  MALICE, torts. The doing any act injurious to another without a just cause. 
       2. This term, as applied to torts, does not necessarily mean that which 
  must proceed from a spiteful, malignant, or revengeful disposition, but a 
  conduct injurious to another, though proceeding from an ill-regulated mind 
  not sufficiently cautious before it occasions an injury to another. 11 S. & 
  R. 39, 40. 
       3. Indeed in some cases it seems not to require any intention in order 
  to make an act malicious. When a slander has been published, therefore, the 
  proper question for the jury is, not whether the intention of the 
  publication was to injure the plaintiff, but whether the tendency of the 
  matter published, was so injurious. 10 B. & C. 472: S. C. 21 E. C. L. R. 
  117. 
       4. Again, take the common case of an offensive trade, the melting of 
  tallow for instance; such trade is not itself unlawful, but if carried on to 
  the annoyance of the neighboring dwellings, it becomes unlawful with respect 
  to them, and their inhabitants may maintain an action, and may charge the 
  act of the defendant to be malicious. 3 B. & C. 584; S. C. 10 E. C. L. R. 
  179. 
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  MALICE, crim. law. A wicked intention to do an injury. 4 Mason, R. 115, 505: 
  1 Gall. R. 524. It is not confined to the intention of doing an injury to 
  any particular person, but extends to an evil design, a corrupt and wicked 
  notion against some one at the time of committing the crime; as, if A 
  intended to poison B, conceals a quantity of poison in an apple and puts it 
  in the way of B, and C, against whom he had no ill will, and who, on the 
  contrary, was his friend, happened to eat it, and die, A will be guilty of 
  murdering C with malice aforethought. Bac. Max. Reg. 15; 2 Chit. Cr. Law, 
  727; 3 Chit. Cr. Law,. 1104. 
       2. Malice is express or implied. It is express, when the party evinces 
  an intention to commit the crime, as to kill a man; for example, modern 
  duelling. 3 Bulst. 171. It is implied, when an officer of justice is killed 
  in the discharge of his duty, or when death occurs in the prosecution of 
  some unlawful design. 
       3. It is a general rule that when a man commits an act, unaccompanied 
  by any circumstance justifying its commission, the law presumes he has acted 
  advisedly and with an intent to produce the consequences which have ensued. 
  3 M. & S. 15; Foster, 255; 1 Hale, P. C. 455; 1 East, P. C. 223 to 232, and 
  340; Russ. & Ry. 207; 1 Moody, C. C. 263; 4 Bl. Com. 198; 15 Vin. Ab. 506; 
  Yelv. 105 a; Bac. Ab. Murder and Homicide, C 2. Malice aforethought is 
  deliberate premeditation. Vide Aforethought.