fratriciden.1
/ˈfratrᵻsʌɪd/, /ˈfreɪtrᵻsʌɪd/, U.S. /ˈfrætrəˌsaɪd/ One who kills his (or her) brother.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > killer for specific reason or type of person > [noun] > of relatives > of brother
fratricidec1450
brother-slayer?c1475
c1450 Mirour Saluacioun 3955 Absolon his awen brothere sleere..ffor he a ffratricide is calde.
a1685 Bp. L. Womock in R. Southey Common-place Bk. (1849) 2nd Ser. 193/1 For his [sc. Calvin's] bitter speeches Bucer gave him the title of a fratricide.
c1779 B. Franklin Wks. (1889) VI. 289 If you will enable the king to reward those fratricides, you will establish a precedent.
1821 Ld. Byron Cain iii. i, in Sardanapalus 433 Hence, fratricide! henceforth that word is Cain.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
fratriciden.2
/ˈfratrᵻsʌɪd/, /ˈfreɪtrᵻsʌɪd/, U.S. /ˈfrætrəˌsaɪd/ The action of killing one's brother. (In Law also the killing of one's sister.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > killing of type of person > [noun] > of relative > of brother
brother slaughterc1480
fratricide1569
1569 R. Grafton Chron. I. i. 4 For the which fratricide or brother murthering, he [Cain] was by the sentence of Almighty God publyshed for a vagabond.
1687 R. Boyle Martyrdom Theodora (1703) ii. 25 Fratricide be justly listed among the blackest crimes.
a1701 H. Maundrell Journey Aleppo to Jerusalem (1703) 132 The Fratricide..is said by some to have been committed in this place.
1850 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire II. xxi. 448 The stain of fratricide could never be entirely wiped away.
Draft additions October 2001
Military.
a. Premature detonation of a nuclear warhead or interference with its guidance system during flight, caused by the blast of a missile that has been previously launched at the same or a nearby target.
ΚΠ
1972 Bull. Operations Res. Soc. Amer. 20 Suppl. 1 b183 The reentry vehicles are intercepted according to various intercept point selection (IPS) tactics and in observance of blackout, fratricide, and radar tracking constraints.
1985 National Rev. (U.S.) 28 June 53/2 [Any] effort to slip through to the targets before pressure waves had time to form would be frustrated both by the intricacies of timing such an attack and by the multiplied probability of missile fratricide.
2000 R. E. Powaski Return to Armageddon i. 36 They asserted that the detonation of the first Soviet warheads would commit ‘fratricide’.
b. Accidental casualties or damage caused by an army's own force or that of its allies; friendly fire.
ΚΠ
1986 Washington Post (Nexis) 7 June a1 In official Air Force jargon, such friendly fire is known as fratricide. In pilots' slang, the victims ‘mort themselves out’.
1992 H. N. Schwarzkopf It doesn't take Hero 500 I detest the term ‘friendly fire’. Once a bullet leaves a muzzle or a rocket leaves an airplane, it is not friendly to anyone. Unfortunately, fratricide has been around since the beginning of war.
2001 Financial Times (Nexis) 27 June 13 The report also addresses one of the most serious problems in combat—the potential for what the military calls ‘unintentional fratricide’, also known as friendly-fire casualties—when troops accidently [sic] fire on their comrades.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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