Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The crime of maliciously, voluntarily, and willfully setting fire to the building, buildings, or other property of another or of burning one's own property for an improper purpose, as to collect insurance.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In law, the malicious burning of a dwelling-house or outhouse of another. By the common law it is a felony, and if any person be in the building at the moment of firing it is a capital offense. By statutes the definition has been extended so as to include the burning of other property besides that above specified, or of one's own property. In Scotland called
wilful fire-raising . - n. A saddlebow; sometimes, a saddle.
Wiktionary
- n. uncountable The crime of setting a fire with intent to cause damage.
- n. countable An instance of such a crime.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Law) The malicious burning of a dwelling house or outhouse of another man, which by the common law is felony; the malicious and voluntary firing of a building or ship.
WordNet 3.0
- n. malicious burning to destroy property
Etymologies
- Anglo-Norman and Old French arson, from the verb ardoir, from Latin ardeō. Compare ardent (Wiktionary)
- Anglo-Norman, from Late Latin ārsiō, ārsiōn-, from Latin ārsus, past participle of ārdēre, to burn; see as- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Even misdemanor arson is a disqualifier many places.”
“For example, if a person has a history of arson, is it not more likely than not, that person will continue to set objects on fire?”
“Le Mans Mayor Jean-Claude Boulard suspects arson is to blame.”
“At least 29 vehicles were destroyed in arson attacks this year, most of them luxury cars, according to police.”
“Who has ever heard of creationists engaging in arson, grave robbery and assault.”
“What if a statute says that arson is punishable by ten years unless a judge finds a racial motivation for the crime, in which case a defendant can get twenty years?”
“Your recklessness would hardly go that far, and your accomplice was toot skilled enough in arson to succeed, but he has been arrested and is awaiting trial in Brooklyn jail.”
“Camp morale was dealt a new blow this weekend when the camp's "library" marquee fell victim to what was described as an arson attack.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph
“Fire terror!" a headline screamed from Germany's influential Bild-Zeitung on Friday, while Dieter Wiefelspütz, a security expert for Berlin's ruling Social Democrats called the arson a "precursor to terrorism" in an interview with the tabloid.”
The Wall Street Journal: Berlin Authorities Struggle to Stop Car Burning Surge
“Serge @ 202: Wouldn't a flamboyant ass be called arson?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘arson’.
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JURI - crimes and offences
Don't commit any of these if you can
firearms trafficking, serious and organ..., trafficking in hu..., illegal shipment ..., cybercrime, money laundering, sale of counterfe..., sale of dangerous..., smuggling, infraction, corruption, organised crime and 153 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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JURI - courtroom speak
Legal glossary with special focus on courtroom vocabulary
accused, acquittal, ADA, adjournment, adjudication, affidavit, affirmed, aggravated range, aggravating factors, allegation, alleged, answer and 794 more...
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Words that sound dirty but aren't.
When you want to be pedantic AND childish.
titular, masticate, condiment, titmouse, penal, formication, social intercourse, assassination, cacophony, lucubrate, rectify, banal and 131 more...
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Fire
Words describing or related to fire.
burn, blaze, brand, sizzle, scorch, char, crisp, crackle, kindle, flame, inferno, pyre and 27 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1856 more...
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Vocab
Words that I come across, and go blank, or want to clarify.
nefarious, edifice, malevolent, ostensible, folderol, bauble, livid, amnesty, calculus, saddlery, maisonette, cuisse and 423 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
mulct, dupe, pittance, stipend, defray, cupidity, avarice, prodigal, profligate, affluent, insolvent, penurious and 533 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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ard-, ars-
burn
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dienekes's Words
chutzpah, lexicon, intrepid, pedagogical, schlemiel, schism, erudite, anathema, pugilist, jaunty, paradigm, automaton and 949 more...
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Playground Completed Despite Rain - S...
looming, motivated, motivate, fact, wielded, wield, ashes, effort, incorporate, arson, drowned out, hardest and 5 more...
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POWERTHIRST
HEY, do you want to feel SO ENERGETIC?! Drink POWERTHIRST and you'll win at everything, forever!
energetic, powerthirst, gratuitous amount..., shockolate, electrical storm, uncomfortably ene..., rawberry, made with real li..., sports, menergy, energy puns, turbopuns and 49 more...
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Black Saturday
A list in relation to the bushfires which commenced in earnest on Saturday 7 Feb 2009 in the state of Victoria, Australia.
marysville, ember attack, fire services, megafire, relief effort, emergency, cfa, brian naylor, kinglake, darkest day, last stand, hotline and 61 more...
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Crimes & Misdemeanors
Crime-related words.
perpetrator, felony, misdemeanor, rape, suspicion, arrest, pillage, arson, burglary, theft, complicit, filch and 12 more...
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Fire Bad!
immolate, incinerate, scorch, cauterize, combust, cremate, deflagrate, ignite, smolder, blaze, kindle, torch and 18 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for arson.
chznarles Mark put this on the list because his house was the victim of a conflagration. Nov 29, 2007