What is "misdemeanours"

Usage examples of "misdemeanours".

Now like pus spurting from a boil, there came flooding her mind his constant jocular chastisement of her over petty misdemeanours concerning the table or his personal linen: should she omit to roll his breakfast bun in a napkin to keep it hot, should the white of his fried egg not be crisped brown while the yokes remained soft, he would bestow on her a pained glance.

And the other chief witnesses were members of the criminal class who had, themselves, been convicted of crimes and misdemeanours principally through the activities of Officer Conley.