murder Hear it!

murder definition

mur·der (mʉrdər)

noun

  1. the unlawful and malicious or premeditated killing of one human being by another; also, any killing done while committing some other felony, as rape or robbery
  2. Informal something very hard, unsafe, or disagreeable to do or deal with

Etymology: ME murthir, mordre < OE & OFr: OE morthor, akin to ON morth, Goth maurthr; OFr mordre < Frank *morthr: all ult. < IE *mṛtóm < base *mer- > mortal

transitive verb

  1. to kill (a person) unlawfully and with malice
  2. to kill inhumanly or barbarously, as in warfare
  3. to spoil, mar, etc., as in performance the song was murdered by the singer

intransitive verb

to commit murder
murder Idioms

get away with murder

Slang to escape detection of or punishment for a blameworthy act

murder will out

  1. a murder or murderer will always be revealed
  2. any secret or wrongdoing will be revealed sooner or later

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.
Related Discussions (1)
TopicRepliesLatest Post
murder board139 years ago

Browse Forums