molest, n.

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Jun 26, 2011, at 10:57 AM, JonLighter wrote:

> An attorney on Fox News oberves that the tot mom's defense is that she'd
> been victimized by repeated "sexual molest."

OED has an old, very old, noun "molest" (from the French) 'trouble, hardship; molestation, injury', but the trail ends in

1865    W. J. Linton Claribel 53   Alfred..Sat down to keep the feast of Epiphany Within his walls, secure from all molest.

1994    New Paper (Singapore) 1 Oct. 32/2   The sad thing about molest is that though it is physical, the harm is always mental and emotional anguish.

the 1994 cite is almost surely an instance of *new* "molest", probably a truncation of "molestation".  the new usage is not uncommon, but seems to be mostly restricted to legal and social-service contexts (where a shorter noun would be useful), as in

This course will address the unique needs of law enforcement investigators who are responsible for investigating child sexual molest cases.
http://www.sdrtc.org/post_courses/postAdvChildSexualMolestInvestigations.html

ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL MOLEST
Allegations of in-home molest/abuse seem to cause the most severe conflict within the system. There are many reasons for this. Child molest is a societal taboo. It causes extreme emotional upheavals in the family, internally, and for family members in relation to society at large. Allegations of molest provoke bias in everyone within the system. Molest can rarely be proven. Molest leaves no physical evidence.
http://members.cox.net/wordpress/grandjuryreportno8.pdf

Havertown (Delaware County), Pennsylvania -- Long-time district judge charged with sexual molest of 12-year-old stepdaughter
http://justice.posterous.com/havertown-delaware-county-pennsylvania-long-t

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org