malefice

See also: maléfice

English

Etymology

From Latin maleficium: compare French maléfice. See malefactor.

Noun

malefice (plural malefices)

(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

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.

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