murder

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English [edit]

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Etymology [edit]

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.

The -d- in the Middle English form may have been influenced in part by Anglo-Norman murdre, from Medieval Latin murdrum from Old French murdre, from Frankish *murþra "murder", from the same Germanic root, though this may also have wholly been the result of internal development (compare burden, from burthen).

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

murder (countable and uncountable; plural murders)

  1. (countable) An act of deliberate killing of another human being.
    There have been ten unsolved murders this year alone.
  2. (uncountable) The crime of deliberate killing.
    The defendant was charged with murder.
    • 2012 August 21, Pilkington, Ed, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, The Guardian:
      Reggie Clemons has one last chance to save his life. After 19 years on death row in Missouri for the murder of two young women, he has been granted a final opportunity to persuade a judge that he should be spared execution by lethal injection.
  3. (uncountable, law, in jurisdictions which use the felony murder rule) The commission of any act which abets the commission of a crime the commission of which causes the death of a person.
    Ryan Holle is serving life in prison for murder because he loaned his car to his housemate to go get food, his housemate instead drove three people to another house, one of those people inflicted an injury on a fourth person, and that fourth person died.
  4. (uncountable, used as a predicative noun) Something terrible to endure.
    This headache is murder.
  5. (countable) A group of crows; the collective noun for crows.
    • 1995, Deepak Chopra, The Return of Merlin: A Novel, ISBN 0517598493, page 108:
      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.
    • 2001, Daniel Handler, The Vile Village, ISBN 0064408655, page 76:
      Without the murder of crows roosting in its branches, Nevermore Tree looked as bare as a skeleton.

Usage notes [edit]

  • Adjectives often applied to "murder": attempted, unsolved, brutal, double, triple, horrible, terrible, heinous, hideous, atrocious.

Synonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

an act of deliberate killing
the crime of deliberate killing
terrible to endure
flock of crows
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb [edit]

murder (third-person singular simple present murders, present participle murdering, simple past and past participle murdered)

  1. To deliberately kill (a person or persons).
    The woman found dead in her kitchen was murdered by her husband.
  2. (transitive) (sports, figuratively, colloquial) To defeat decisively.
    Our team is going to murder them.
  3. To botch or mangle
    • 1892, William Shepard Walsh, Handy-book of Literary Curiosities[1], page 293:
      Dr. Caius, the Frenchman in the play, and Evans the Welshman, "Gallia et Guallia," succeed pretty well in their efforts to murder the language.
  4. (figuratively, colloquial) To kick someone's ass or chew someone out (used to express one’s anger at somebody).
    He's torn my best shirt. When I see him, I'll murder him!
  5. (figuratively, colloquial, UK) to devour, ravish.
    I could murder a hamburger right now.

Synonyms [edit]

Translations [edit]

deliberately kill
defeat decisively
express one’s anger at
devour

Anagrams [edit]

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