Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MIS-DE-MEAN'OR, n.

1. Ill behavior; evil conduct; fault; mismanagement. South.
2. In law, an offense of a less atrocious nature than a crime. Crimes and misdemeanors are mere synonymous terms; but in common usage, the word crime is made to denote offenses of a deeper and more atrocious dye, while small faults and omissions of less consequence are comprised under the gentler name of misdemeanors. Blackstone.