| 释义 |
▪ I. murder, n.|ˈmɜːdə(r)|
Forms: α. 1 morþor, -ur, 3–4 morþre, 3–4, 6 murthre, 4 myrþer, 4–6 murthir, morther, 5 Sc. murthour, murthyr, 5–6 murthur, 6 mwrther, Sc. morthour, 4–9 (now dial. and Hist. or arch.) murther; β. 3–5 murdre, 4–5 moerdre, 4–6 mordre, 5 moordre, 6 murdur, mourdre, 6– murder.
[OE. morðor neut. (with pl. of masc. form morþṙas) = Goth. maurþr neut.:—OTeut. *murþrom:—pre-Teut. *mrtro-m, f. root *mer-: mor-: mr- to die, whence L. morī to die, mors (morti-) death, Gr. µορτός, βροτός mortal, Skr. mṛ to die, mará masc., mṛti fem., death, márta mortal, OSl. mĭrěti, Lith. mirti to die, Welsh marw, Irish marþ dead.
The word has not been found in any Teut. lang. but Eng. and Gothic, but that it existed in continental WGer. is evident, as it is the source of OF. murdre, murtre (mod.F. meurtre) and of med.L. mordrum, murdrum, and OHG. had the derivative murdren murder v. All the Teut. langs. exc. Gothic possessed a synonymous word from the same root with different suffix: OE. morð neut., masc. (murth1), OS. morð neut., OFris. morth, mord neut., MDu. mort, mord neut. (Du. moord), OHG. mord (MHG. mort, mod.G. mord), ON. morð neut.:—OTeut. *murþo-:—pre-Teut. *mrto-.
The change of original ð into d (contrary to the general tendency to change d into ð before syllabic r) was prob. due to the influence of the AF. murdre, moerdre and the Law Latin murdrum.]
1. a. The most heinous kind of criminal homicide; also, an instance of this. In English (also Sc. and U.S.) Law, defined as the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought; often more explicitly wilful murder.
In OE. the word could be applied to any homicide that was strongly reprobated (it had also the senses ‘great wickedness’, ‘deadly injury’, ‘torment’). More strictly, however, it denoted secret murder, which in Germanic antiquity was alone regarded as (in the modern sense) a crime, open homicide being considered a private wrong calling for blood-revenge or compensation. Even under Edward I, Britton explains the AF. murdre only as felonious homicide of which both the perpetrator and the victim are unidentified. The ‘malice aforethought’ which enters into the legal definition of murder, does not (as now interpreted) admit of any summary definition. Until the Homicide Act of 1957, a person might even be guilty of ‘wilful murder’ without intending the death of the victim, as when death resulted from an unlawful act which the doer knew to be likely to cause the death of some one, or from injuries inflicted to facilitate the commission of certain offences. By this act, ‘murder’ was extended to include death resulting from an intention to cause grievous bodily harm. It is essential to ‘murder’ that the perpetrator be of sound mind, and (in England, though not in Scotland) that death should ensue within a year and a day after the act presumed to have caused it. In British law no degrees of guilt are recognized in murder; in the U.S. the law distinguishes ‘murder in the first degree’ (where there are no mitigating circumstances) and ‘murder in the second degree’ (though this distinction does not obtain in all States).
α Beowulf 2055 Þara banena byre..morðres ᵹylpeð. 971Blickl. Hom. 63 Maniᵹe men wenaþ þæt morþor sy seo mæste synne. 13..Cursor M. 1072 (Gött.) Again abel her raised a strijf, wid murther he broght his broþer o lijf. a1375Ibid. 1121 (Fairf.) Þar-wiþ come our creatour for-to speke wiþ þat traytour [Cain] of þat myrþer [earlier texts murth] and þat tresoun. 1423Jas. I Kingis Q. clvii, The wolf, that of the murthir noght say[is] ‘ho!’ 1535Coverdale Mark xv. 7 There was in preson with the sedicious, one called Barrabas, which in the vproure had committed murthur. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. iv. 54 His traytrous Sonnes, That dy'd by law for murther of our Brother. 1649Bp. Reynolds Hosea ii. 77 Jezebel binds her self by an oath unto murther. 1726Butler Serm. Rolls viii. 151 But let us suppose a Person guilty of Murther. 1836Lytton Athens (1837) II. 342 In despotic Persia all history dies away in the dark recesses and sanguinary murthers of a palace governed by eunuchs and defended but by slaves.
βa1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 1136 He wende to have reproved be Of thefte or mordre, if that he Hadde in his stable an hakeney. 1390Gower Conf. I. 270 Than se so gret a moerdre wroght Upon the blod which gulteth noght. 1470–85Malory Arthur iv. xv. 118 He gaf them londes and charged hem neuer to doo outragyousyte nor mordre. 1604Shakes. Oth. i. ii. 3 Though in the trade of Warre I haue slaine men, Yet do I hold it very stuffe o'th'conscience To do no contriu'd Murder. 1671Milton Samson 1186 Hadst thou not committed Notorious murder on those thirty men At Askalon. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. ix. 152 Ten years penance [was] enjoined for a murder. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 211 The peal and flash of gun after gun gave notice, from three different parts of the valley at once, that murder was doing. 1891C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 107 The farmer lived..for 48 hours; however he lived long enough to make it only murder in the second degree.
fig.1809Malkin Gil Blas iii. iii. ⁋6 This brutal importunity is downright murder to one's feelings.
b. Proverb. murder will out (also murder cannot be hid, etc.). the murder is out: said when something is suddenly revealed or explained.
13..Cursor M. 1084 (Gött.) For-þi men sais into þis tyde, Is no man þat murthir may hide. c1386Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 232 Mordre wol out that se we day by day. 1433Lydg. St. Edmund ii. 225 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 400 Moordre wil out, thouh it abide a while. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ii. 83 Murder cannot be hid long. 1706Farquhar Recruiting Officer iii. i, Now the murder's out. 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. xxviii, Sir Leicester's cousins, in the remotest degree, are so many Murders, in the respect that they ‘will out’.
c. Often applied to a death-sentence of a tribunal, killing of men in war, or any other action causing destruction of human life, which is regarded as morally wicked, whether legal or not. judicial murder: see judicial a. 1.
1551Turner Herbal i. Prol. A iij b, By occasyon of thys boke euery man, nay euery old wyfe will presume not without the mordre of many, to practyse Phisick. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ ii. ix. §11. 276 Condemn them for the Murther of Socrates. 1665Dryden Ind. Emperor v. ii. (1668) 60 Slaughter grows murder when it goes too far, And makes a Massacre what was a War. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. xi. §244 This unparalleled murder and parricide was committed upon the 30th of January. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 108 The actual murder of the king and queen, and their child, was wanting to the other auspicious circumstances of this ‘beautiful day’. The actual murder of the bishops..was also wanting. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 487 Murder by false testimony is therefore the most aggravated species of murder. 1858W. Arnot Laws fr. Heav. for Life on Earth Ser. ii. xiii. 104 [War] is, rather than does, murder.
d. personified.
1593Shakes. Rich. II, i. ii. 21 His summer leafes all vaded By Enuies hand, and Murders bloody axe. 1812Shelley Devil's Walk xxvi, The hell-hounds, Murder, Want and Woe, Forever hungering, flocked around.
e. Phr. to get away with murder: see get v. 61 c.
f. An excellent or marvellous person or thing. U.S. slang.
1940Music Makers May 37/3 Murder, something excellent or terrific... ‘That's solid murder, gate!’ 1943M. Shulman Barefoot Boy ix. 90 We got on the dance floor just as a Benny Goodman record started to play. ‘Oh, B.G.!’ cried Noblesse... ‘Man, he's murder, Jack.’ 1948H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. 707 The vocabulary of the jazz addict is largely identical with that of the jazz performer{ddd}anything excellent is killer-diller, murder or Dracula. 1970C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 83 Murder, (1930's–40's) excellent; the best.
†2. Used without moral reprobation: Terrible slaughter, destruction of life. Obs.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11717, & sir simond was aslawe & is folk al to grounde More murþre [v.r. morþre] ȝare nas in so lute stounde Vor þere was werst simond de mountfort aslawe alas & sir henri his sone [etc.]. 1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxii. (1513) O v, Pryamus..suche a mordre gan vpon them make That many grekes lay dede on the playne. c1449Pecock Repr. v. vi. (Rolls) 516 Sowdiers wagid into Fraunce for to make miche morther of blood. 1590Disc. Sp. Fleet inv. Eng. 23 The same day..the L. Henrie Seimer and sir William Winter did so thoroughly beate two Spanish Galeons..that they were inforced to withdraw themselues to the coast of Flanders, where forsomuch as they were in a very euill taking, as well in respect of the murther of their men, as the manifolde leakes of their ships, they were surprised, and without fight rifeled by the Zelanders.
3. As a cry or exclamation uttered by one who thinks or pretends to think himself or some one else in danger of murder. Also, in trivial use, as a comic ejaculation of horror. to cry blue murder (slang): to make an extravagant outcry or lamentation; also blue murder, a loud or alarming noise, a great commotion, din, or disturbance; used in intensive phrases as like blue murder, at a terrific pace, at top speed (colloq.).
c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. iv. (Fox & Cock) xiii. 478 The wedow hard, and..Seand the cace, scho sichit and gaif an schout: ‘How, murthour, hay! with ane hiddious beir, Allace, now lost is gentill chantecleir!’ 1604Shakes. Oth. v. i. 27, I am maym'd for euer: Helpe hoa: Murther, murther. 1788Burns Epigr. on Elphinstone's Martial, Heard'st thou that groan—proceed no further; ‘Twas laurelled Martial roaring murther! 1837S. Lover Rory O'More xlvi, Pooh! pooh!—murdher! there's not a dhrop o' wather in the pot. 1859Hotten Dict. Slang 8 Blue-murder, a desperate or alarming cry. c1874D. Boucicault in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1969) II. 228 They were standing by and thrying to screech blue murdher. ‘Stop their mouths,’ said a voice. 1887‘J. S. Winter’ in Eng. Illustr. Mag. Dec. 179 The dingy person dropped his victim and howled what the half-dozen officers..afterwards graphically described as ‘blue murder’. 1893G. B. Shaw in World 10 May 28/2 What it [sc. the slow movement of Stanford's Irish Symphony] does end in is blue murder. 1900Pollok & Thom Sports Burma iii. 78 The foolish beast would not budge, but kept yelling ‘blue murder’ whilst the bull was cruelly punishing her. 1914Evening News 1 Oct. 2/1 They were off down the road like blue murder. 1921G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah ii. 84 You couldnt produce it. There would be blue murder. It's out of the question. 1959‘A. Gilbert’ Death takes Wife xiii. 164 Corpses don't yell blue murder.
4. Hist. Used occas. to render Anglo-Latin murdrum: The fine imposed, in the 12th and 13th c., on the hundred in which a ‘murder’ (i.e. felonious homicide of an unknown by an unknown person: see note under sense 1) had been committed.
1823Lingard Hist. Eng. (1854) I. 247 [Norman Conquest]. In legal language the penalty was denominated the ‘murder’.
5. In fig. and hyperbolic use: (an act of) destruction or spoliation supposed to be tantamount to murder. Also in weakened senses: a situation or condition that is very unpleasant or undesirable.
1857Trollope Barchester T. II. ii. 37 This cellar is perfectly abominable. It would be murder to put a bottle of wine into it till it has been roofed, walled, and floored... Goodenough never had a glass of wine that any man could drink. 1878‘R. Boldrewood’ Ups & Downs ix. 90 What a murder that one should have all these hundredweights of nails,.. and forests of posts and wallplates to get all over again! 1924Kipling Debits & Credits (1926) 316, I was never keen on bombin' myself... But bombin'-instruction's murder! 1951J. B. Priestley Festival at Farbridge ii. ii. 255 Cook's gone, and it's murder trying to do it all myself. 1956A. J. Lerner My Fair Lady (1958) i. i. 8 By right she should be taken out and hung For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue! 1960H. Pinter Room in Birthday Party, etc. 105 Rose. You look cold. Mrs Sands. It's murder out. Have you been out? 1965M. Bradbury Stepping Westward i. 64 Private life was simple enough, but the communal centres were murder. 1973A. Ross Dunfermline Affair 69 An old hip injury... Not so bad when I'm just walking..but murder climbing stairs.
6. A popular parlour or children's game for a number of participants, which involves a mock murder hunt, led by a ‘detective’, to find the ‘murderer’ of one who is playing dead, having been ‘murdered’ in the dark. Also called murders, the murder game, murder in the dark.
1933Phillips & Westall Bk. Indoor Games iv. 276 To give as good an idea of ‘Murder’ as we can, we will describe in narrative form an actual game. 1934N. Marsh Man lay Dead i. 14 Silly games are played... It's going to be Murders this time. Ibid. 20 Are we really going to play the Murder Game? 1937M. Hillis Orchids on your Budget (1938) vi. 103 You can still serve refreshments after bingo played for pennies or the murder game. 1948C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident v. 59 We'd get him interested if we made a detective job of it—sort of Murder Game. 1964R. Jeffries Embarrassing Death xii. 147 Did you ever play the game ‘Murder’?.. Everybody but the murderer must tell the truth: the murderer may lie. 1972G. Brandreth Party Games 24 Murder in the Dark. 6 or more players. A chilling game, definitely not for those with weak hearts.
7. attrib. and Comb., simple attrib., as murder bout, murder case, murder charge, murder film, murder-fine (= sense 4), murder gun, murder hunt, murder-haunt, murder-oath, murder story, murder-tool, murder trial, murder victim, murder weapon; objective, as murder-aiming, murder-darting adjs.; instrumental, as murder-wasted; murder bag (see quot. 1938); murder book (file, log), a book or file in which are kept details of a police investigation of a murder; murder game: see sense 6; murder inquiry, a police investigation into a case of murder; murder investigation = murder inquiry; murder-man, (a) a murderer; (b) a writer of murder stories; cf. murdermonger; murder mystery, a mysterious murder; spec. a murder story in which the murderer's identity is concealed by a complicated plot until the dénouement; murder one U.S. colloq., (a charge of) first-degree murder; murder rap slang (orig. U.S.), a charge of murder; murder room, after the discovery of a murder, a (nearby) room used as a centre for directing a police inquiry into the crime; murder squad, a division of the police appointed to investigate crimes of murder.
1789Burns On Seeing Wounded Hare i, Blasted be thy *murder-aiming eye!
1938F. D. Sharpe S. of Flying Squad vi. 65 In the Superintendent's office at Scotland Yard repose two plain cowhide bags... They are the *Murder Bags which contain all the tools which a detective is likely to need in solving a major crime. 1962‘J. Bell’ Crime in our Time v. iii. 156 He takes with him all the necessary apparatus for a detailed examination on the spot, the so-called ‘murder bag’. 1972‘A. Garve’ Case of Robert Quarry i. i. 8 Methodically checking the contents of his murder bag.
1972J. Wainwright Requiem for Loser viii. 162 The final write-up would be bound into a single volume, called ‘The *Murder Book’. 1973Murder Book [see murder log below].
1906Hardy Dynasts II. vi. vii. 298 Bonaparte and Alexander..Are closing to a mutual *murder-bout.
1930A. Christie Murder at Vicarage xv. 118, I should never have suspected that Hawes would take such a keen interest in the details of a *murder case. 1974M. Birmingham You can help Me iii. 52 This is a murder case... To answer a few questions will hardly hurt her.
1937‘M. Innes’ Hamlet, Revenge! iii. v. 297 There is nobody..who would wish to incriminate me in a *murder charge. 1974Times 15 Feb. 1/3 (heading) Murder charge after London shooting.
1972J. Wainwright Requiem for Loser viii. 162 The enquiry was still ‘The *Murder Enquiry’. 1973Murder enquiry [see murder log below].
1967W. Keenan Lonely Beat iv. 39 He picked up the thick *murder file... The reports were in chronological order. 1973Murder File [see murder log below].
1947M. Gilbert Close Quarters xvi. 244 It was a *murder film.
1898E. Jenks in Contemp. Rev. Dec. 884 The three neighbouring villages must pay the *murder-fine.
1939E. S. Gardner D.A. draws Circle (1940) v. 57 ‘What are they, Doug, finger⁓prints?’ ‘Yes, on the *murder gun.’
1968Observer 28 Apr. 8/2 (heading) *Murder-hunt police appeal to motorists.
1937‘M. Innes’ Hamlet, Revenge! iii. i. 220 The scene..suggested..a riot rather than a *murder-investigation. 1973R. Lewis Blood Money iii. 28 This is a murder investigation. Give me your assistance.
1972J. Wainwright Requiem for Loser viii. 162 The log was still ‘The *Murder Log’. 1973― High-Class Kill 123 Bits and pieces which are part of a murder enquiry—the Murder File, the Murder Log..and the Murder Book.
c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 3166 Bet it is to sle þe *mordreman, Than suffre hym regnë. c1420Virgin's Compl. 32 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 239, I criede on deth, ‘why wilt þu fle? Cum, sle his moder, þu morder man!’ 1889Murder-man [see blood-curdler (blood n. 20)].
1900Ade Fables in Slang 198 The Book that begins with a *Murder Mystery. 1960Auden Homage to Clio 26 The sin of Gluttony Is ranked among the Deadly Seven, but in murder mysteries One can be sure the gourmet Didn't do it. 1973A. MacVicar Painted Doll Affair vi. 68, I bought two of the paperbacks described as ‘murder mysteries’. 1975Times 22 Sept. 11/5 They..worked out a scheme about two lexicographers involved in a murder mystery.
c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. xiii. (Frog & Mouse) xiii, Bot gif thou sweir to me the *murthour aith But fraude or gile to bring me ouer this flude But hurt or harme. Ibid. xvi, Thow swore the murthour aith richt now, that I.
1971‘H. Howard’ Murder One xiv. 177 Murray's going to stand trial charged with *murder one. 1972G. V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle xxvi. 162 The three of them're up on murder one, they're gonna be having a hearing this afternoon.
1929D. Hammett Dain Curse (1930) xv. 169 He hasn't a chance in the world of hanging *murder-raps on them. 1972J. Potter Going West 57 Sergeant O'Leary said how about pulling her in on a murder rap.
1968P. N. Walker Carnaby & Gaolbreakers xv. 143 I'd like a room set aside as a *Murder Room. 1972G. Sereny Case of Mary Bell i. iii. 38 The ‘Murder Room’ at Newcastle's West End Police..was a hive of activity all night.
1929M. A. Gill Underworld Slang, *Murder squad, police who investigate murders. 1958S. Hyland Who goes Hang? xlv. 220 A straightforward fact..accepted by Macaulay and his murder squad. 1972C. Drummond Death at Bar iii. 84 Sergeant Reed had retired from the pub before the City of London murder squad arrived.
1831M. Edgeworth Let. 16 Mar. (1971) 490 Rogers..told me..a capital *murder-story. 1929F. N. Hart Hide in Dark i. 27 It's despicable to tell a murder story with the lights on.
1843Carlyle Past & Pr. iii. x, Fighting with steel *murder-tools is surely a much uglier operation than Working, take it how you will.
1888Kipling Let. 2 May in C. E. Carrington R. Kipling (1955) v. 97 He has been concerned in most of the more distinguished *murder trials of the past twenty years. 1973D. Westheimer Going Public iii. 42 Lee went to the Houston Post and looked through back issues, studying murders and murder trials.
1971Guardian 11 Dec. 10/5 The weekly number of *murder victims [in India] is 283.
1870Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 30 Of Sigurd, who the dragon slew Upon the *murder-wasted heath.
1959M. Gilbert Blood & Judgment vii. 71 He had turned up..the *murder weapon, ready furnished with a print of the murderer. 1962K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed xii. 84 Fay's cap of heroin burned like a murder-weapon in my pocket. 1973R. Lewis Blood Money iv. 36 Frust..confirmed that..the poker..is the murder weapon.
▪ II. murder, v.|ˈmɜːdə(r)|
Forms: α. OE. (a-, for-, of-) myrþrian, 3–4 morþre, 3–5 murthre, 4 mirþer, 5 morþere, 4, 6 murthur, 4–6 morther, 5 mourther, 6 (myrther), murthir, 3–8, (9 dial.) murther; β. 4–5 mo(u)rdre, morder, moerdre, 4–6 murdre, (5 moorderyn), 6 mordir, 4– murder.
[OE. (a-, for-, of-) myrðrian = OHG. murdran (MHG. ermurderen, -morderen, mod.G. mördern), Goth. maurþrjan:—OTeut. *murþrjan, f. *murþro- murder n.
It is doubtful whether the OE. verb survived into ME., or whether the ME. vb. is wholly a new formation on the n. In any case many of the forms show assimilation to the n. Cf. OF. mordrir, murdrir, murtrir to murder (mod.F. meurtrir to bruise), Anglo-Latin murdrāre.]
1. a. trans. To kill (a human being) unlawfully with malice aforethought; in early use often with the additional notion of concealment of the offence (see murder n. 1); to kill wickedly, inhumanly, or barbarously.
α1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2383 Þe kinges ȝonge breþeren aurel & ambrose Dradde vor hor eritage ymorþred to be. a1300Cursor M. 1116 (Cott.) [God] will þat he bii þe vttrage, þat murþerhed [Fairf. mirþerret, Gött. murtherrt, Trin. murþereþ] sua is ane ymage. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. iv. 42 He meynteneþ his Men to Morþere myn owne. c1440York Myst. xl. 91 How þei mourthered þat man þat we of mene. 1536Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) I. 59 The Abbott of Towre Hill, being my[r]therd. 1673Ray Journ. Low C. 399 There be..cut-throats ready to murther any man for a small piece of mony. 1757Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. iii. viii. Wks. X. 511 All historians are..agreed that he murthered his nephew.
βc1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 5310 Greffes hym mordred for enuye. 1390Gower Conf. I. 344 To take and moerdre of his malice This child. c1440Promp. Parv. 342/2 Moorderyn, or prively kyllyn, sicario. 1530Palsgr. 642/1, I murdre, I kyll or slee a man in his bedde or at unwares, je meurdrys. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. iv. §119 If he had not been seasonably rescued, it was believed they would have murderd him. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxxii, I have slain—murdered, if you will—my late master. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 212 Hamilton murdered the old man in cold blood. 1861Times 23 July, The charge is not merely that you killed your wife, but that you murdered her, by which is meant that you killed her with deliberate intention so to do.
†b. with adverbial extension. Obs.
1572Satir. Poems Reform. xxxi. 37 For innocents ar murtherit downe, without remors, in land and towne.
c. refl. To commit suicide or self-murder.
c1369Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 724 (Fairf.) Thogh..ye for sorwe mordred your selve. c1565in Hakluyt's Voy. (1904) VI. 331 The condemned person..launcing his body a crosse from the breast downe all the belly murthereth himselfe. 1629J. Cole Of Death 33 The man that murdereth himselfe, after the committing of the sin, hath not any time of repentence. 1827Macaulay Ess., Machiav. (1865) I. 37/1 Othello murders his wife;..he ends by murdering himself.
d. To slaughter in a terrible manner, to massacre.
† Also with complement expressing the result: to murder to death.
c1350Will. Palerne 2859 So harde sautes to þe cite were ȝeuen, þat þe komli kerneles were to-clatered wiþ engines, & mani of here miȝthi men murdred to deþe. c1400Destr. Troy 10701 Paris with pyne was pricket at his hert, To se his men so be mard, & murtherit to dethe. Ibid. 11141 There murtherit were mony of the mayn troiens. 1876Tennyson Harold v. i, They turn on the pursuer, horse against foot, They murder all that follow.
e. In fig. and hyperbolic uses. In the 18th c. occas. † to torment, torture.
a1225Ancr. R. 310 Þu uniselie sunfule! þo þu, þuruh deaðliche sunne, murðredest Godes spuse, þet is, þi soule. c1394P. Pl. Crede 666 Boþe þey wiln & þei wolden y-worþen so grete To passen any mans miȝt to morþeren þe soules. 1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 502 Thy eyes' shrowd tutor, that hard heart of thine, Hath taught them scornfull tricks, & such disdaine That they haue murdred this poore heart of mine. 1605― Macb. ii. ii. 36 Macbeth does murther Sleepe, the innocent Sleepe. 1711in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 186 It is inexpressible, how well he prepared for his long departure, his desired exit; murdering all hearts, who viewed him in that state. 1712–13Swift Jrnl. to Stella 18 Mar., Dilly murders us with his if puns. 1776J. Adams Wks. (1854) IX. 421 Your motion..for sending ambassadors to France with conditional instructions, was murdered. 1796Southey Lett. fr. Spain (1799) 221 There is not a part of the civilized world where the female mind is not murdered by the customs of society. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 48 Suspicion murders love, and from its death Come anguish and remorse.
f. transf. with an animal as subject or object.
14..,1523[cf. murdering vbl. n.]. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 79 Like the Bees,..wee bring it to the Hiue; And like the Bees, are murthered for our paines. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ix. 337 If the elephant chanceth to breake through the hedge, he murthereth as many men as he can finde. 1863W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vi. 192, I found Swartz and the Kaffirs exulting over a cow and young heifer, which they had murdered among them in about twelve shots.
g. absol. To perform the act of murdering; to commit murder.
1535Coverdale Jer. vii. 9 When ye haue stollen, murthured, committed aduoutrie, and periury. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 126 Haue you a Ruffian that will sweare? drinke? dance? Reuell the night? Rob? Murder? and commit The oldest sinnes, the newest kinde of wayes? 1646J. Temple Irish Rebell. (1746) 193 The Names of such as murthered, this Examinant knoweth not. a1762Lady M. W. Montagu, etc. Verses to Imitator of Horace 103 For tho' in law, to murder be to kill, In equity the murder's in the will. 1857J. Hyde Mormonism vii. 181 These men will fight, lie, rob, murder for Mormonism if commanded. 1910New Mag. Nov. 224/2 Yes. I am the man who murders for the king.
h. colloq., as a jocular threat.
1939Joyce Finnegans Wake iii. 460 So don't keep me now for a good boy for the love of my fragrant saint, you villain,..or I'll first murder you. 1942T. Rattigan Flare Path ii. ii. 66 Patricia. You're ill. I'm going to ring up a doctor. Teddy. I'll murder you if you do.
2. To spoil by bad execution, representation, or pronunciation, etc.
1644–7Cleveland Char. Lond. Diurn. 4 Thus, they kill a man over and over, as Hopkins and Sternhold murder the Psalmes, with another to the same. c1693Ad Populum Phaleræ ii. ii. 25 The Sense too oft is murder'd by the Sound. 1728Morgan Algiers II. 213 The Spaniards most corruptly and most abusively murder and confound several Letters. 1751Wesley 2nd Let. to Author Enthus. Methodists 2 In your Second [section], you cite (and murder) four or five Lines from one of my Journals. 1830Marryat King's Own xlv, Don't kill Billy; it's bad enough to have murdered Shakspeare. 1861G. J. Whyte-Melville Good for N. I. 199 Bella..insisted on her teacher sitting down with her to roast chicken when they ought to have been murdering a duet.
3. To consume or spend (time) unprofitably.
1712Addison Spect. No. 371 ⁋8 A different kind of Men, who are the Pests of all polite Conversation, and murder Time as much as either of the two former. 1756Washington Lett. Writ. 1889 I. 241 If the hurry of business..will admit of an opportunity to murder a little time in writing to me, I should receive the favour as a mark of..esteem. 1764Mem. G. Psalmanazar 95 Thus having murdered, as I may say, another year, we were dismissed. 1791–1823D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1866) 255/2 Murdering time by a constant round of giddy dissipation. 1827Scott Jrnl. 8 Aug., It kills time, or rather murders it, this company-keeping.
4. To mangle cruelly. [Cf. F. meurtrir to bruise.]
1876Tennyson Harold v. ii, They have so maim'd and murder'd all his face There is no man can swear to him.
5. slang. To defeat (an opponent or rival) totally or conclusively, esp. at a game or sport.
1952G. Talbot in Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (1960) 349/2 The National Leaguers..eat up south⁓paws. They murdered them all season. 1973‘J. Patrick’ Glasgow Gang Observed v. 49 Mick had stepped in and challenged Bertie to a ‘square-go’. ‘Mick murdered him, man,’ Tim recalled. 1974Observer 24 Feb. 23/7 If the passing had got any worse, a team of corporals' grandmothers would have murdered them. They ran like fugitives from a church parade. |