crimes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of crime.

   The report listed dozens of unsolved crimes across the city.

   Violent crimes declined sharply over the decade.

   Note

   The plural belongs to the countable senses of crime: separate unlawful acts, or great sins and wickednesses. The collective sense, criminal acts taken together, has no plural. Compare crime rose in the city with three crimes were reported. The same spelling also serves the British verb crime, to subject someone to disciplinary punishment, so he crimes the recruit is a verb and not a plural.

2. 2
   interjectionobsoleteeuphemistic

   A mild exclamation of surprise, shock, or dismay, used in place of swearing by Christ.

   'Oh crimes,' muttered Kate, clutching her mother's arm as Captain went up St Martin's Lane and turned into Castle Street, 'He's goin' into Seven Dials.'

   2006, Bowering Sivers, Jammy Dodgers Go Underground

   Note

   A minced oath that disguises Christ behind a harmless-sounding word, so a speaker could exclaim without swearing. It usually comes after oh, as in Bowering Sivers's Jammy Dodgers Go Underground (2006), where Kate mutters "Oh crimes" in alarm. The usage is obsolete, so today it gives speech an old-fashioned flavor. It has nothing to do with the plural of crime except its spelling.

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