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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. The unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice.
  2. n. Slang Something that is very uncomfortable, difficult, or hazardous: The rush hour traffic is murder.
  3. n. A flock of crows. See Synonyms at flock1.
  4. v. To kill (another human) unlawfully.
  5. v. To kill brutally or inhumanly.
  6. v. To put an end to; destroy: murdered their chances.
  7. v. To spoil by ineptness; mutilate: a speech that murdered the English language.
  8. v. Slang To defeat decisively; trounce.
  9. v. To commit murder.
  10. idiom. get away with murder Informal To escape punishment for or detection of an egregiously blameworthy act.
  11. idiom. murder will out Secrets or misdeeds will eventually be disclosed.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Homicide with malice aforethought; as legally defined, the unlawful killing of a human being, by a person of sound mind, by an act causing death within a year and a day thereafter, with premeditated malice.
  2. n. Slaughter; destruction.
  3. To kill; slay in or as in battle.
  4. To kill (a human being) with premeditated malice; kill criminally. See murder, n., 1.
  5. To kill or slaughter in an inhuman or barbarous manner.
  6. To destroy; put an end to.
  7. To abuse or violate grossly; mar by bad execution, pronunciation, representation, etc.: as, to murder the queen's English; the actor murdered the part he had to play.
  8. Synonyms Slay, Despatch, etc. See kill.

Wiktionary

  1. n. countable An act of deliberate killing of another human being.
  2. n. uncountable, law The crime of deliberate killing.
  3. n. uncountable, law The commission of any act which abets the commission of a crime the commission of which causes the death of a person.
  4. n. uncountable Something terrible to endure.
  5. n. countable A group of crows; the collective noun for crows.
  6. v. To deliberately kill (a person or persons).
  7. v. transitive (sports, figuratively, colloquial) To defeat decisively.
  8. v. To botch or mangle
  9. v. figuratively, colloquial To kick someone's ass or chew someone out (used to express one’s anger at somebody).
  10. v. figuratively, colloquial, UK to devour, ravish.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The offense of killing a human being with malice prepense or aforethought, express or implied; intentional and unlawful homicide.
  2. v. To kill with premediated malice; to kill (a human being) willfully, deliberately, and unlawfully. See murder, n.
  3. v. To destroy; to put an end to.
  4. v. To mutilate, spoil, or deform, as if with malice or cruelty; to mangle.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being
  2. v. alter so as to make unrecognizable
  3. v. kill intentionally and with premeditation

Etymologies

  1. From Middle English murder, murdre, mourdre "murder", alteration of earlier murthre ("murder") (see murther) from Old English morþor ("secret slaying, unlawful killing") and Old English myrþra ("murder, homicide"), both from Proto-Germanic *murþran (“death, killing, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *mrtro- (“killing”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-, *mor-, *mr- (“to die”). Akin to Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr, "murder"), Old High German mord ("murder"), Old Norse morð ("murder"), Old English myrþrian ("to murder") and morþ. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English murther, from Old English morthor; see mer- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “I mentioned the engagement as a mere matter of course to somebody, and though I mentioned it confidentially, it started this slander about Malcolm Cromarty and Cicely Farmond conspiring to murder -- to _murder_, Lilian!”

    Simon

  • “Then, when the leading tongues of the guns had flashed out, and human life, even the life of dogs, had yielded to the demand of her cause, the last vestige of her dreaming had been swept away, and she told herself it was murder, _murder at her bidding_!”

    The Man in the Twilight

  • “Peggy Perez-Olivo murder 11 / 18 / 06 Millwood, NY * husband Carlos arrested and charged with her murder*”

    Bonnie's Blog of Crime

  • “Stark murder 12 / 09 / 07 Spokane, WA * wife Shellye arrested for his murder*”

    Bonnie's Blog of Crime

  • “Washington - Shellye Stark murder trial (murder of her husband, Dale) - delayed Update: Sandra Cantu murder * Melissa Huckaby arrested and charged with her kidnapping and murder*”

    Bonnie's Blog of Crime

  • “John Maruschak murder 7 / 16 / 2009 Cleveland, OH * Brothers Alex and Aaron Wulff charged with his murder*”

    Bonnie's Blog of Crime

  • “Jesika Kelsey murder 1 / 1 / 2009 Highland Township, MI * Brother, Steven, confesses to her rape and murder*”

    Bonnie's Blog of Crime

  • “Danny Platt, arrested for killing his son over child support issues; has allegedly confessed Jesika Kelsey murder 1 / 1 / 2009 Highland Township, MI * Brother, Steven, confesses to her rape and murder*”

    Bonnie's Blog of Crime

  • “Psycho For Love: Ask Lawrence Mangerchine what he does for love Jesika Kelsey murder 1 / 1 / 2009 Highland Township, MI * Brother, Steven, confesses to her rape and murder*”

    Bonnie's Blog of Crime

  • “Amador Cendejas-Cortes murder 4 / 30 / 2009 Los Angeles, CA * 3 arrested for his murder*”

    Bonnie's Blog of Crime

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘murder’.

Comments

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  • reesetee You can add 'em here if you're so inclined. :-) Feb 25, 2010

  • ruzuzu Ha! Feb 25, 2010

  • milosrdenstvi How about a "cacaphony" of cows? Feb 25, 2010

  • dontcry I suggest a "cacophony" of crows. Feb 25, 2010

  • chrissykp A murder of crows swooped down to devour the remains of the havest. Feb 25, 2010

  • ruzuzu This NYTimes book review suggests that a "litter" of crows would be "an apt expression in more ways than one." Dec 13, 2009

  • marky 'Ah was walkin' tae school whinna seeit a murrderr o' croos cacklin' inna treee.'
    i like this! thx bilby Dec 8, 2009

  • bilby Aye, lassie. Dec 8, 2009

  • madmouth It was in Auchtermuchty, wannit? Dec 8, 2009

  • bilby Scots - Ah was walkin' tae school whinna seeit a murrderr o' croos cacklin' inna treee. Dec 8, 2009

  • marky Thx! Didn't plan on it, kinda turned out that way. Dec 8, 2009

  • PossibleUnderscore Fantastic progression, no? Murder to murder to murder. Dec 8, 2009

  • marky While walking to school I witnessed a murder of crows cackling in a tree. It was murder to my ears so I put on my headphones and listened to 'Murder'. Dec 8, 2009

  • asativum This is also clearly a plot sketch for a period murder mystery. Oct 19, 2008

  • bilby Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Oct 18, 2008

  • sakhalinskii Unlawful killing. As opposed to lawful killing, I guess. Sep 20, 2008

  • bilby "Murder for a jar of red rum" is a palindromic sentence. Dec 10, 2007

  • dlarson As there are
    Prides of lions,
    and herds of cattle,
    so there are murders of crows...

    Which is why I like this word.
    (Also, a storytelling of crows)
    http://www.rinkworks.com/words/collective.shtml May 10, 2007

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‘murder’ has been looked up 3609 times, loved by 2 people, added to 45 lists, commented on 18 times, and has a Scrabble score of 9.