Forfeit

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: for=feit

CIDE DICTIONARY

Forfeit, n. [OE. forfet crime, penalty, F. forfait crime (LL. forefactum, forifactum), prop. p. p. of forfaire to forfeit, transgress, fr. LL. forifacere, prop., to act beyond; L. foris out of doors, abroad, beyond + facere to do. See Foreign, and Fact.].

•  Injury; wrong; mischief.  [1913 Webster]

  "To seek arms upon people and country that never did us any forfeit."  [1913 Webster]
•  A thing forfeit or forfeited; what is or may be taken from one in requital of a misdeed committed; that which is lost, or the right to which is alienated, by a crime, offense, neglect of duty, or breach of contract; hence, a fine; a mulct; a penalty; as, he who murders pays the forfeit of his life.  [1913 Webster]

  "Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal
  Remit thy other forfeits."  [1913 Webster]
•  Something deposited and redeemable by a sportive fine; -- whence the game of forfeits.  [1913 Webster]

  "Country dances and forfeits shortened the rest of the day."  [1913 Webster]

Forfeit, a. [F. forfait, p. p. of forfaire. See Forfeit, n.].

 Lost or alienated for an offense or crime; liable to penal seizure.  [1913 Webster]
"Thy wealth being forfeit to the state."  [1913 Webster]
"To tread the forfeit paradise."  [1913 Webster]

Forfeit, v. t. [OE. forfeten. See Forfeit, n.].

 To lose, or lose the right to, by some error, fault, offense, or crime; to render one's self by misdeed liable to be deprived of; to alienate the right to possess, by some neglect or crime; as, to forfeit an estate by treason; to forfeit reputation by a breach of promise; -- with to before the one acquiring what is forfeited.  [1913 Webster]
"[They] had forfeited their property by their crimes."  [1913 Webster]
"Undone and forfeited to cares forever!"  [1913 Webster]

Forfeit, v. i. 

•  To be guilty of a misdeed; to be criminal; to transgress.  [1913 Webster]
•  To fail to keep an obligation.  [1913 Webster]

  "I will have the heart of him if he forfeit."  [1913 Webster]

Forfeit, p. p.  

 In the condition of being forfeited; subject to alienation.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
"Once more I will renew
His lapsèd powers, though forfeite."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Forfeit, n., adj., & v.
--n.
1 a penalty for a breach of contract or neglect; a fine.
2 a a trivial fine for a breach of rules in clubs etc. or in games. b (in pl.) a game in which forfeits are exacted.
3 something surrendered as a penalty.
4 the process of forfeiting.
5 Law property or a right or privilege lost as a legal penalty.
--adj. lost or surrendered as a penalty.
--v.tr. (forfeited, forfeiting) lose the right to, be deprived of, or have to pay as a penalty.

Derivative

forfeitable adj. forfeiter n. forfeiture n.

Etymology

ME (= crime) f. OF forfet, forfait past part. of forfaire transgress (f. L foris outside) + faire f. L facere do

THESAURUS

Forfeit

amercement, be bereaved of, bereavement, caution, caution money, charge, collateral, collateral security, cost, damage, damages, dead loss, debit, default, denial, denudation, deposit, deprivation, despoilment, destruction, detriment, dispossession, distraint, distress, divestment, drop, escheat, escheatment, expense, fee, fine, forfeiture, forgo, forgone, give over, give up, go astray from, incur loss, injury, kiss good-bye, let slip, lose, lose out, loser, losing, losing streak, loss, lost, margin, mislay, misplace, miss, mulct, penalty, perdition, privation, relinquish, relinquished, renounce, renounced, robbery, ruin, sacrifice, sconce, sequestration, spoliation, stake, stripping, suffer loss, surrender, surrendered, taking away, total loss, undergo privation, waive, waived, wander from, yielded

ROGET THESAURUS

Forfeit

Nonobservance

VB fail, neglect, omit, elude, evade, give the go-by to, set aside, ignore, shut one's eyes to, close one's eyes to, infringe, transgress, violate, pirate, break, trample under foot, do violence to, drive a coach and six through, discard, protest, repudiate, fling to the winds, set at naught, nullify, declare null and void, cancel, retract, go back from, be off, forfeit, go from one's word, palter, stretch a point, strain a point.

Loss

VB lose, incur a loss, experience a loss, meet with a loss, miss, mislay, let slip, allow to slip through the fingers, be without, forfeit, get rid of, waste, be lost, lapse.

Penalty

N penalty, retribution, pain, pains and penalties, weregild, wergild, peine forte et dure, penance, the devil to pay, fine, mulct, amercement, forfeit, forfeiture, escheat, damages, deodand, sequestration, confiscation, premunire, doomage.

VB fine, mulct, amerce, sconce, confiscate, sequestrate, sequester, escheat, estreat, forfeit.