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murder

Pronunciation: /ˈməːdə/
Translate murder | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of murder

noun

  • 1the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another:the brutal murder of a German holidaymaker [mass noun]:he was put on trial for attempted murder
  • 2 [mass noun] informal a very difficult or unpleasant task or experience:the 40-mile-per-hour winds at the summit were murder

verb

[with object]
  • 1kill (someone) unlawfully and with premeditation:he was accused of murdering his wife’s lover
  • 2 informal punish severely or be very angry with:my father will murder me if I’m home late
  • conclusively defeat (an opponent) in a game or sport.
  • spoil by lack of skill or knowledge:the only thing he had murdered was the English language
  • chiefly British consume (food or drink) greedily or with relish:I could murder some chips

Phrases

get away with (blue) murder

informal succeed in doing whatever one chooses without being punished or suffering any disadvantage: some local authorities are letting estate agents get away with murder

murder one (or two)

North American informal first-degree (or second-degree) murder.

murder will out

murder cannot remain undetected.

scream (or yell) blue (or North American bloody) murder

informal make an extravagant and noisy protest:if it gets into the papers, she’ll be down here screaming blue murder

Origin:

Old English morthor, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch moord and German Mord, from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit mará 'death' and Latin mors; reinforced in Middle English by Old French murdre

murder in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of murder in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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