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• felo-de-se
  felo-de-se

  noun

  a person who intentionally takes their own life, or commits an unlawful malicious act resulting in their own death.
• felo de se
  felo de se

  noun

  law

felo-de-se

American  

[fel-oh-di-see, -sey] / ˈfɛl oʊ dɪˈsi, -ˈseɪ /

noun

• felones-de-se,
  plural
• felos-de-se
  plural

1. a person who intentionally takes their own life, or commits an unlawful malicious act resulting in their own death.

2. the act of suicide.

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felo de se British  

/ ˈfiːləʊ dɪ ˈsiː, ˈfɛləʊ- /

noun

1. law

   1. suicide

   2. a person who commits suicide

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• felones-de-se
  plural
• felos-de-se
  plural

Etymology

Origin of felo-de-se

First recorded in 1650–60; from Anglo-Latin, equivalent to felō “a felon” + dē “in respect to, of” + sē “oneself”; see origin at felon ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

felo-de-se felo de se

He was cut down before life was extinct, and on recovery was prosecuted for felo-de-se.

From Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer by W. C. (William Charles) Scully

This verdict," the coroner then said, "entailed the same consequences as an act of felo-de-se, and he felt that he could not give a warrant for the burial of the deceased.

From A Shepherd's Life Impressions of the South Wiltshire Downs by W. H. (William Henry) Hudson

After such a piece of spiritual felo-de-se, the man is nothing but one wheel in a machine, or even but one cog upon a wheel.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 12, October, 1858 by Various

It would be reckoned a gross breach of good manners to scandalize the refined and liberal administration of the Kursaal by undisguised felo-de-se.

From The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims Volume I (of II) by Andrew Steinmetz

Further, a jury can seldom be induced to bring in a verdict of felo-de-se.

From Regeneration by Henry Rider Haggard

"A fellow that's single, a fine fellow's he; But a fellow that's married's a felo de se."

From The History of "Punch" by M. H. (Marion Harry) Spielmann

In 1779, John Stanford, who hung himself at the Red Lion, Kneesworth, was found to be a felo de se, and was "ordered to be buried in a cross-road."

From Fragments of Two Centuries Glimpses of Country Life when George III. was King by Alfred Kingston

The remains of a felo de se are ordered by that act to be buried privately in the churchyard, but without the performance of any rites of Christian burial.

From Ten Thousand a-Year. Volume 1. by Samuel Warren

“So that felo de se is quite out of the question?”

From Annie o' the Banks o' Dee by Gordon Stables

It is recorded in a Norwich newspaper, of 1728, that the body of a hat-presser, after a verdict of felo de se, was accordingly buried in the highway.

From England in the Days of Old by William Andrews