scream bloody murder









scream bloody murder


noun

  1. Law. the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during the commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson (first-degree murder), and murder by intent but without deliberation or premeditation (second-degree murder).
  2. Slang. something extremely difficult or perilous: That final exam was murder!
  3. a group or flock of crows.

verb (used with object)

  1. Law. to kill by an act constituting murder.
  2. to kill or slaughter inhumanly or barbarously.
  3. to spoil or mar by bad performance, representation, pronunciation, etc.: The tenor murdered the aria.

verb (used without object)

  1. to commit murder.

Idioms

  1. get away with murder, Informal. to engage in a deplorable activity without incurring harm or punishment: The new baby-sitter lets the kids get away with murder.
  2. murder will out, a secret will eventually be exposed.
  3. yell/scream bloody murder,
    1. to scream loudly in pain, fear, etc.
    2. to protest loudly and angrily: If I don’t get a good raise I’m going to yell bloody murder.

noun

  1. the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by anotherCompare manslaughter, homicide
  2. informal something dangerous, difficult, or unpleasantdriving around London is murder
  3. cry blue murder informal to make an outcry
  4. get away with murder informal to escape censure; do as one pleases

verb (mainly tr)

  1. (also intr) to kill (someone) unlawfully with premeditation or during the commission of a crime
  2. to kill brutally
  3. informal to destroy; ruinhe murdered her chances of happiness
  4. informal to defeat completely; beat decisivelythe home team murdered their opponents

n.c.1300, murdre, from Old English morðor (plural morþras) “secret killing of a person, unlawful killing,” also “mortal sin, crime; punishment, torment, misery,” from Proto-Germanic *murthra- (cf. Goth maurþr, and, from a variant form of the same root, Old Saxon morth, Old Frisian morth, Old Norse morð, Middle Dutch moort, Dutch moord, German Mord “murder”), from PIE *mrtro-, from root *mer- “to die” (see mortal (adj.)). The spelling with -d- probably reflects influence of Anglo-French murdre, from Old French mordre, from Medieval Latin murdrum, from the Germanic root. Viking custom, typical of Germanic, distinguished morð (Old Norse) “secret slaughter,” from vig (Old Norse) “slaying.” The former involved concealment, or slaying a man by night or when asleep, and was a heinous crime. The latter was not a disgrace, if the killer acknowledged his deed, but he was subject to vengeance or demand for compensation. Mordre wol out that se we day by day. [Chaucer, “Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” c.1386] Weakened sense of “very unpleasant situation” is from 1878. v.Old English myrðrian, from Proto-Germanic *murthjan (cf. Old High German murdran, German mördren, Gothic maurþjan; see murder (n.)). Related: Murdered; murdering. Angrily protest as loudly as possible, as in When Jimmy took her teddy bear, Lauren screamed bloody murder, or Residents are screaming bloody murder about the increase in property taxes. The scream here may be either literal (as in the first example) or figurative, which is also true of invoking murder as though one were in danger of being killed. Versions of this term, such as cry murder, date from the 1400s. In addition to the idiom beginning with murder

  • murder will out
  • also see:

  • get away with (murder)
  • scream bloody murder
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