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, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH murder

homicide manslaughter murder execute kill1 murder (see synonym study at kill1)

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 n

Word 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