TREASON • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Treason

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/trˈizən/ Listen

noun

Treason n.

The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance, or of betraying the state into the hands of a foreign power; disloyalty; treachery. "The treason of the murthering in the bed." Note: In monarchies, the killing of the sovereign, or an attempt to take his life, is treason. In England, to imagine or compass the death of the king, or of the queen consort, or of the heir apparent to the crown, is high treason, as are many other offenses created by statute. In the United States, treason is confined to the actual levying of war against the United States, or to an adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.

Loosely, the betrayal of any trust or confidence; treachery; perfidy. "If he be false, she shall his treason see."

Petit treason. See under Petit.

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Etymology of 'Treason'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Treason" Quotes from Famous Books

... Jew's courtesy; For he that did by treason work our fall, By treason hath deliver'd thee to us: Know, therefore, till thy father hath made good The ruins done to Malta and to us, Thou canst not part; for Malta shall be freed, Or Selim ne'er ...

— The Jew of Malta • Christopher Marlowe

... by Act of Parliament that whatsoever person or persons takes any bishop's places, castles, or strengths, or enters by their own authority to hold them without his Highness' command, letters or charges, shall incur the crimes of treason and lesemajesty," yet, "Colin Mackenzie of Kintail, in proud and high contempt of his Majesty's said loveable law and Act of Parliament, and of his Highness now having the administration of the Government of the realm in his own person, lately, upon the ...

— History Of The Mackenzies • Alexander Mackenzie

... by religious as well as by political considerations. The presumptive heir to the throne was to his father what Horus had been to Osiris—his lawful successor, or, if need be, his avenger, should some act of treason impose on him the duty of vengeance: and was it not in Ethiopia that Horus had gained his first victories over Typhon? To begin like Horus, and flesh his maiden steel on the descendants of the accomplices ...

— History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 4 (of 12) • G. Maspero

... it muzzled the editor at his desk, and the professor in his lecture-room. It sat a price on the heads of peaceful citizens; robbed the mails, and denounced the vital principles of the declaration of independence as treason. In the States where the law did not tolerate slavery, slavery ruled the club and drawing room, the factory and the office, swaggered at the dinner table, and scourged with scorn a cowardly society. It tore the golden rule from ...

— Shadow and Light - An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century • Mifflin Wistar Gibbs

... breaths of air, serpent or hare, or the large face and slow eyes of a browsing buffalo. And as I think, lo! an echo in the house, a dull tramp in the hall, a stealthy tread in the room, a heavy hand upon my shoulder,—I was arrested for high treason. ...

— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, Issue 67, May, 1863 • Various

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