fact (1 now used only in phrases such as ‘after the fact’, ‘before the fact’)
1.
deed, esp. evil deed, crime
1H6 IV. i. 30
“this was
infamous,”
Mac. III. vi. 10
“damned fact!,”
Lucr. 349.
2.
“in the fact,” in the
very act 2H6 II. i. 171.