misprision /mis-PRIZH-ən/. noun. Misconduct or neglect of duty by a public official. Rarely, legally, the concealing of—or failing to prevent—treason or a felony committed by someone else. More generally, a mistake. Also a term used by literary critic Harold Bloom to describe strong writers who misread or misinterpret their influences and forebears in order to create a creative space for themselves. From Old French mesprision (error); from Latin prendre (take).
“I’m not even sure the whole fact of talking to him wouldn’t open us up to misprision.” (Christopher Buckley)
“I understand the interest in the Baraja, the Italian deck, the German with its other colors, the Ganjifa, and so on, but I was always a devotee of the standard modern Rouennaise fifty-two. I loved the history that led to what we play with, the misprisions, the errors of copying that got us suicide kings and one-eyed Jacks.” (China Miéville)
mirrors, vials, furnaces
misprision of moments lifted from their concealment
moments of rain ascend in the manner of smoke
(Carolyn Forche)
“Error. Error upon error. Error, misprision, fakery, fantasy, ignorance, falsification, and mischief, of course, irrepressible mischief. An ordinary day in the life of anyone.” (Philip Roth)
“…this, in the eye of the law, is constructive barratry, misprision of treason, malfeasance in office, ad hominem expurgatis in statu quo–and the penalty is death by the halter, without ransom, commutation, or benefit of clergy.” (Mark Twain)
Either envy therefore, or misprision,
Is guilty of this fault, and not my son.
(William Shakespeare)