assassin








noun

  1. a murderer, especially one who kills a politically prominent person for fanatical or monetary reasons.
  2. (initial capital letter) one of an order of Muslim fanatics, active in Persia and Syria from about 1090 to 1272, whose chief object was to assassinate Crusaders.

noun

  1. a murderer, esp one who kills a prominent political figure

noun

  1. a member of a secret sect of Muslim fanatics operating in Persia and Syria from about 1090 to 1256, murdering their victims, usually Crusaders
n.

1530s (in Anglo-Latin from mid-13c.), via French and Italian, from Arabic hashishiyyin “hashish-users,” plural of hashishiyy, from hashish (q.v.). A fanatical Ismaili Muslim sect of the time of the Crusades, under leadership of the “Old Man of the Mountains” (translates Arabic shaik-al-jibal, name applied to Hasan ibu-al-Sabbah), with a reputation for murdering opposing leaders after intoxicating themselves by eating hashish. The plural suffix -in was mistaken in Europe for part of the word (cf. Bedouin).

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