Also fellon. [Perh. a. OF. *felon; a 16th c. quot. in Godef. s.v. has felons app. corresponding to ulceribus in the L. original; but the translation is loose, and the word may mean ‘cholera,’ as in Cotgr.; cf. quot. c. 1116 below. The sense is consistent with derivation from L. fell-, fel gall; see prec.]
1. A small abscess or boil, an inflamed sore.
[c. 1116[?]. Radulphus, Ep. ad Elyenses, in Acta SS., V. (1867), 468. Morbus, quem vulgo fellonem nuncupant, felle suo viroso me miserum graviter occupavit. (The disease, described in absurdly bombastic terms, seems to have been a scrofulous swelling of the neck.)]
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 2995. Als kylles and felouns and apostyms.
14[?]. Lat. Eng. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 564. Autrax, the felon.
14[?]. Pict. Voc., ibid., 791. Hec Antrax, a felun, bleyn.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 154/2. Felone, soore, antrax.
1547. Boorde, Brev. Health, xxiv. 15 b. In Englyshe it is named a Felon, and is lyke a Carbocle.
1689. Moyle, Sea Chyrurg., II. xxv. 80. To ripen these Boyles and Felons apply this Cataplasme.
1740. Berkeley, Let., Wks. 1871, IV. 263. What you call a felon is called in the books a phlegmon, and often is the crisis following a fever or other distemper.
1826. J. Williams, Last Legacy, 11. Felons … or any such tumor on the hands or feet or elsewhere.
1880. E. Cornwall Gloss., Fellon, inflammation.
b. esp. A whitlow under or near the nail of a finger or toe.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, VI. lxix. 747. The felons or noughtie sores which rise about the toppes of toes and fingers.
1667. Sir W. Willoughby, in Lauderdale Papers (1885), II. xx. 28. I am trubled … wth an effeminate desease called a ffellon on my fore finger.
1746. Howell, in Phil. Trans., XLIV. 228. The Fellon, or worst kind of Whitflow.
1874. T. Hardy, Madding Crowd, II. iii. 31. He hev been away from home for a few days, since he’s had that felon upon his finger.
2. With reference to animals: a. in prec. sense. b. (see quot. 1855).
c. 1450. Bk. Hawkyng, in Rel. Ant., I. 301. A wykked felone is swolle of such maner coverte that no man may it hele, that the hawke schal not dye.
1595. Markham, Bk. St. Albans, I. 23. If your hawke haue a felon swolne on her.
1748. trans. Vegetius’ Distemp. Horses, 62. He will have Fellons or small Biles in his Back or in his Sides.
1842. C. W. Johnson, Farmer’s Encycl., Felon … In farriery, a term for a sort of inflammation in animals, similar to that of whitlow in the human subject.
1855. Robinson, Whitby Gloss., Fellon, the soreness of a cow’s skin from cold or checked perspiration.
3. attrib. In various names of plants, herbs, etc., as Felon-berry (see quot. 1715); Felon-grass (a) Imperatoria Ostruthium (? miscalled ‘angelica’ in quot. 1824); (b) Helleborus niger; (c) Geranium Robertianum; Felon-herb (see quot. 1878); Felon-weed, Senecio Jacobæa; Felon-wood, (a) Solanum Dulcamara; (b) Imperatoria Ostruthium; Felon-wort (see quot. 1878).
a. 1715. Buddle, MS., in Britten & Holland Plant-n., *Fellon-berry, Bryonia dioica.
1824–80. Jamieson, *Fellin-grass, the plant called Angelica.
1878. Britten & Holland, Plant-n., Fellon Grass. Ibid., *Fellon-herb, (1) Artemisia vulgaris … (2) Hieracium Pilosella.
1579. Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 577. It healeth felons … It is called *fellon-weede.
1878. Britten & Holland, Plant-n., Fellon-weed.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., IV. 70. (Woody Nightshade or Bittersweet) … The plant is in some places called *Felon-wood.
1878. Britten & Holland, Plant-n., Fellon-wood.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Felon-wort, an Herb.
1878. Britten & Holland, Plant-n., Fellon-wort, (1) Solanum Dulcamara … (2) Chelidonium majus … (3) Imperatoria Ostruthium … (4) Geranium Robertianum.
