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Murder

//ˈmɜːdə(ɹ)// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
Noun
  1. 1
    The crime of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination. uncountable

    "The defendant was charged with murder."

  2. 2
    unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being wordnet
  3. 3
    The crime of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination.; The act of committing or abetting a crime that results in the killing of a person, regardless of intent, and even if the committer or abettor is not the one who killed the person: felony murder. uncountable
  4. 4
    The act of killing a person (or sometimes another being) unlawfully, especially with predetermination countable

    "There have been ten unsolved murders this year alone."

  5. 5
    Something terrible to endure. uncountable

    "This headache is murder."

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  1. 6
    A group of crows; the collective noun for crows. collective, countable

    "For his part, Melchior was growing unhappy with the murder of crows. They had been patiently following Arthur for hours, trailing him from town to country."

  2. 7
    Something remarkable or impressive. countable, dated, slang, uncountable

    "Right quick another cat spoke up real loud, saying, “That’s murder man, really murder,” and his eyes were signifying too."

  3. 8
    a murderer countable, nonstandard, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To illegally kill (a person or persons) with intent, especially with predetermination

    "The woman found dead in her kitchen was murdered by her husband."

  2. 2
    alter so as to make unrecognizable wordnet
  3. 3
    To defeat decisively. colloquial, excessive, figuratively, transitive

    "Our team is going to murder them."

  4. 4
    kill intentionally and with premeditation wordnet
  5. 5
    To kick someone's ass or chew someone out (used to express one’s anger at somebody). colloquial, excessive, figuratively

    "He's torn my best shirt. When I see him, I'll murder him!"

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  1. 6
    To botch or mangle.

    "Dr. Caius, the Frenchman in the play, and Evans the Welshman, "Gallia et Guallia," succeed pretty well in their efforts to murder the language."

  2. 7
    To devour, ravish. British, colloquial, figuratively

    "I could murder a hamburger right now."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English murder, murdre, mourdre, alteration of earlier murthre (“murder”) (see murther), from Old English morþor (“secret slaying, unlawful killing”) and Old English myrþra (“murder, homicide”), both from Proto-West Germanic *morþr, from Proto-Germanic *murþrą (“death, killing, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tro- (“killing”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-, *mor-, *mr̥- (“to die”). Akin to Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr, “murder”), Old High German mord (“murder”), Old Norse morð (“murder”), Old English myrþrian (“to murder”) and morþ. The -d- in the Middle English form may have been influenced in part by Anglo-Norman murdre, from Old French murdre, from Medieval Latin murdrum (whence the English doublet of murdrum), from Frankish *morþr, *murþr (“murder”), from the same Germanic root, though this may also have been wholly the result of internal development (compare burden, from burthen). (crows): Attested at least since 1475.

Etymology 2

From Middle English murder, murdre, mourdre, alteration of earlier murthre (“murder”) (see murther), from Old English morþor (“secret slaying, unlawful killing”) and Old English myrþra (“murder, homicide”), both from Proto-West Germanic *morþr, from Proto-Germanic *murþrą (“death, killing, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tro- (“killing”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-, *mor-, *mr̥- (“to die”). Akin to Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr, “murder”), Old High German mord (“murder”), Old Norse morð (“murder”), Old English myrþrian (“to murder”) and morþ. The -d- in the Middle English form may have been influenced in part by Anglo-Norman murdre, from Old French murdre, from Medieval Latin murdrum (whence the English doublet of murdrum), from Frankish *morþr, *murþr (“murder”), from the same Germanic root, though this may also have been wholly the result of internal development (compare burden, from burthen). (crows): Attested at least since 1475.

Etymology 3

English surname from the verb murder, originally given to someone who had a reputation of being a murderer or was accused of committing murder.

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