From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Felony \Fel"o*ny\, n.; pl. {Felonies}. [OE. felonie cruelty, OF.
felonie, F. f['e]lonie treachery, malice. See {Felon}, n.]
1. (Feudal Law) An act on the part of the vassal which cost
him his fee by forfeiture. --Burrill.
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2. (O.Eng.Law) An offense which occasions a total forfeiture
either lands or goods, or both, at the common law, and to
which capital or other punishment may be added, according
to the degree of guilt.
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3. A heinous crime; especially, a crime punishable by death
or imprisonment.
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Note: Forfeiture for crime having been generally abolished in
the United States, the term felony, in American law,
has lost this point of distinction; and its meaning,
where not fixed by statute, is somewhat vague and
undefined; generally, however, it is used to denote an
offense of a high grade, punishable either capitally or
by a term of imprisonment. In Massachusetts, by
statute, any crime punishable by death or imprisonment
in the state prison, and no other, is a felony; so in
New York. the tendency now is to obliterate the
distinction between felonies and misdemeanors; and this
has been done partially in England, and completely in
some of the States of the Union. The distinction is
purely arbitrary, and its entire abolition is only a
question of time.
[1913 Webster]
Note: There is no lawyer who would undertake to tell what a
felony is, otherwise than by enumerating the various
kinds of offenses which are so called. originally, the
word felony had a meaning: it denoted all offenses the
penalty of which included forfeiture of goods; but
subsequent acts of Parliament have declared various
offenses to be felonies, without enjoining that
penalty, and have taken away the penalty from others,
which continue, nevertheless, to be called felonies,
insomuch that the acts so called have now no property
whatever in common, save that of being unlawful and
purnishable. --J. S. Mill.
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{To compound a felony}. See under {Compound}, v. t.
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From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
felony
n 1: a serious crime (such as murder or arson)
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