Sin

Sin (?), adv., prep., & conj. Old form of Since. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

Sin that his lord was twenty year of age.

Sin, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sinned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Sinning.] [OE. sinnen, singen, sinegen, AS. syngian. See Sin, n.] 1. To depart voluntarily from the path of duty prescribed by God to man; to violate the divine law in any particular, by actual transgression or by the neglect or nonobservance of its injunctions; to violate any known rule of duty; -- often followed by against.

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned.

All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

2. To violate human rights, law, or propriety; to commit an offense; to trespass; to transgress.

I am a man
More sinned against than sinning.

Who but wishes to invert the laws
Of order, sins against the eternal cause.

Sin, n. [OE. sinne, AS. synn, syn; akin to D. zonde, OS. sundia, OHG. sunta, G. sünde, Icel., Dan. & Sw. synd, L. sons, sontis, guilty, perhaps originally from the p. pr. of the verb signifying, to be, and meaning, the one who it is. Cf. Authentic, Sooth.] 1. Transgression of the law of God; disobedience of the divine command; any violation of God's will, either in purpose or conduct; moral deficiency in the character; iniquity; as, sins of omission and sins of commission.

Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

Sin is the transgression of the law.

I think 't no sin.
To cozen him that would unjustly win.

Enthralled
By sin to foul, exorbitant desires.

2. An offense, in general; a violation of propriety; a misdemeanor; as, a sin against good manners.

I grant that poetry's a crying sin.

3. A sin offering; a sacrifice for sin.

He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.

4. An embodiment of sin; a very wicked person. [R.]

Thy ambition,
Thou scarlet sin, robbed this bewailing land
Of noble Buckingham.

☞ Sin is used in the formation of some compound words of obvious signification; as, sin-born; sin-bred, sin-oppressed, sin-polluted, and the like.

Actual sin, Canonical sins, Original sin, Venial sin. See under Actual, Canonical, etc. -- Deadly, or Mortal, sins (R. C. Ch.), willful and deliberate transgressions, which take away divine grace; -- in distinction from vental sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, covetousness, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth. -- Sin eater, a man who (according to a former practice in England) for a small gratuity ate a piece of bread laid on the chest of a dead person, whereby he was supposed to have taken the sins of the dead person upon himself. -- Sin offering, a sacrifice for sin; something offered as an expiation for sin.

Syn. -- Iniquity; wickedness; wrong. See Crime.