murder

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The crime of killing another person on purpose.

   There have been ten unsolved murders this year.

2. 2
   verb

   To kill another person on purpose and unlawfully.

   He was sent to prison for murdering his business partner.

3. 3
   noun

   Something very difficult or unpleasant to deal with.

   This headache is murder.

Common collocations

• murder trial Adjective + noun
• murder conviction Noun + noun
• murder indictment Noun + noun

From Middle English murder, murdre, mourdre, alteration of earlier murthre (“murder”) (see murther), from Old English morþor (“secret slaying, unlawful killing”) and Old English myrþra (“murder, homicide”), both from Proto-West Germanic *morþr, from Proto-Germanic *murþrą (“death, killing, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tro- (“killing”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-, *mor-, *mr̥- (“to die”). Akin to Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr, “murder”), Old High German mord (“murder”), Old Norse morð (“murder”), Old English myrþrian (“to murder”) and morþ. The -d- in the Middle English form may have been…

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images