Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To punish (a person) without legal process or authority, especially by hanging, for a perceived offense or as an act of bigotry.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To punish by lynch-law; punish summarily, for a crime or public offense of any kind, without authority of law; specifically, to punish with death in this manner. See
lynch-law . - noun See
linch .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To inflict punishment upon, especially death, without the forms of law, as when a mob captures and hangs a suspected person. See
lynch law .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb pejorative To
execute (somebody) without a proper legaltrial orprocedure , especially byhanging . - verb pejorative To
commit an act ofviolence by amob upon the body of another person.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb kill without legal sanction
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Did you just use the term lynch in relation to this election?
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As has been recently shown the term lynch law originated during the revolution and was taken from the name of the brother of the man who founded Lynchburgh in Virginia.
The American Revolution and the Boer War, An Open Letter to Mr. Charles Francis Adams on His Pamphlet "The Confederacy and the Transvaal" Sydney George Fisher 1891
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White was convicted of manslaughter for shooting one of the teenagers at the foot of White's driveway, in what he referred to as a lynch mob.
Governor Paterson Commutes Sentence In Racially Charged NY Shooting AP/The Huffington Post 2010
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White was convicted of manslaughter for shooting one of the teenagers at the foot of White's driveway, in what he referred to as a lynch mob.
Governor Paterson Commutes Sentence In Racially Charged NY Shooting AP/The Huffington Post 2010
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White was convicted of manslaughter for shooting one of the teenagers at the foot of White's driveway, in what he referred to as a lynch mob.
SFGate: Top News Stories By MICHAEL GORMLEY 2010
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White was convicted of manslaughter for shooting one of the teenagers in what he referred to as a lynch mob.
SFGate: Top News Stories By MICHAEL GORMLEY 2010
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White was convicted of manslaughter for shooting one of the teenagers in what he referred to as a lynch mob.
The Seattle Times 2010
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White was convicted of manslaughter for shooting one of the teenagers at the foot of White's driveway, in what he referred to as a lynch mob.
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The illustration and the headline "Caught In A Noose" dealt with the story about Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tillman, her use of the word lynch and comments about Tiger Woods.
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A lot of them feel hurt, embarrassed, a lot of people have lived in fear because of what I call lynch mobs with pitchforks. "
Dealbreaker 2009
rolig commented on the word lynch
"Named after Capt. William Lynch, head of a self-constituted judicial tribunal in Virginia, c. 1780." - from my Oxford American Dictionaries widget.
December 5, 2007
oroboros commented on the word lynch
‘The activists had many things ready for an attack on the soldiers,’ Lev-Rom said, ‘including, for instance, a box of 20-30 slingshots with metal balls; these can kill. There were also all sorts of knives and many similar things. These are what they call “cold” weapons, as opposed to live fire. It was quite clear that a lynch had been prepared.’
--www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/ , 31May2010
June 1, 2010
bilby commented on the word lynch
A bit like a press hatchet job on the truth, eh Mel.
June 2, 2010