hospiticide

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English

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Etymology

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From Latin hospiticīda or *hospiticīdium, from hospes (host, guest) + -cīda (killer); equivalent to +‎ -cide.[1][2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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hospiticide (countable and uncountable, plural hospiticides)

  1. (rare) One who kills his guest or host.
    • 1837, Edward Smallwood, Manuella, the Executioner’s Daughter ; A Story of Madrid, volume II, pages 275–276:
      Armed with the weapon which was destined to destroy himself, Imnaz sprang down the ladder, — found the door, and, emerging from the abode of crime, sought a more secure resting place, leaving his hostess to discover, with return of day, in whose blood were imbrued the hands of an hospiticide.
  2. (rare) The act of a guest killing his host or vice versa, or an instance thereof.
    • 1837, Edward Smallwood, Manuella, the Executioner’s Daughter ; A Story of Madrid[1], volume II, page 261:
      Anniversary of the Massacre of the Prado — the Defeat of Quesada — Murderous Reprisals — Hospiticides.

References

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  • (one who kills a guest or host): Glossographia; or, a dictionary interpreting the hard words of whatsoever language, now used in our refined English tongue by Thomas Blount (1656)
  • (act of a guest killing a host or vice versa): A Dictionary of Words and Phrases Used in Ancient and Modern Law by Arthur English (1987; Wm. S. Hein Publishing; →ISBN, page 423
  1. ^ “Hospiʹticide” listed on page 407 of part I of volume 5 of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1928): Hospiʹticide.rare — o. [ad. rare Latin hospiticīda, f. hospes, hospit- guest + -cīda, -cide i.] One who kills his guest or host. (Blount Glossogr. 1656.)
  2. ^ hoˈspiticide” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition, 1989)