crime

Etymology

From Middle English cryme, crime, from Old French crime, crimne, from Latin crīmen. Displaced native Old English firen.

noun

1. (countable) A specific act committed in violation of the law.
2. (countable) Any great sin or wickedness; iniquity.
3. (countable, obsolete) That which occasions crime.
4. (uncountable) Criminal acts collectively.
5. (uncountable) The habit or practice of committing crimes.
   Crime doesn’t pay.

verb

1. (UK, military, transitive) To subject to disciplinary punishment.
   Nevertheless, in the course of a few days he is again intoxicated, creates disturbance in his quarters, is confined by his sergeant, crimed, and brought before the commanding officer […] 1846, John Mercier McMullen, Camp and Barrack-room, Or, The British Army as it is, page 298
2. (nonce word) To commit crime.
   If, during the 1920s, the master criminal was a gamester, criming for self expression, during the 1930s he performed in other ways for other purposes. 1987, Robert Sampson, Yesterday's Faces: From the Dark Side, page 61