murder
[ mur-der ]
/ ˈmɜr dər /
noun
Law.
the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during the commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson (first-degree murder, ormurder one), and murder by intent but without deliberation or premeditation (second-degree murder, ormurder two).
Slang.
something extremely difficult or perilous: That final exam was murder!
a group or flock of crows.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
to commit murder.
Idioms for murder
Origin of murder
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English
mo(u)rdre, murder, variant (influenced by Old French
murdre, from Germanic) of
murthre; see
murther
synonym study for murder
4. See
kill1.
OTHER WORDS FROM murder
self-mur·der, noun self-mur·dered, adjectiveWORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH murder
homicide manslaughter murder execute kill1 murder (see synonym study at kill1)Words nearby murder
British Dictionary definitions for scream bloody murder
murder
/ (ˈmɜːdə) /
noun
verb (mainly tr)
Also (archaic or dialect):
murther
Derived forms of murder
murderer, noun murderess, fem nWord Origin for murder
Old English
morthor; related to Old English
morth, Old Norse
morth, Latin
mors death; compare French
meurtre
Idioms and Phrases with scream bloody murder (1 of 2)
scream bloody murder
Angrily protest as loudly as possible, as in When Jimmy took her teddy bear, Lauren screamed bloody murder, or Residents are screaming bloody murder about the increase in property taxes. The scream here may be either literal (as in the first example) or figurative, which is also true of invoking murder as though one were in danger of being killed. Versions of this term, such as cry murder, date from the 1400s.
Idioms and Phrases with scream bloody murder (2 of 2)
murder