murder
part of speech
noun (murder, a murder, murders); verb (murder, murders, murdered, murdering)
meaning for a pupil
1) The crime of killing a person on purpose. tree →
2) Verb: to kill a person on purpose, against the law. tree →
3) (informal) Something very hard or unpleasant: The traffic was murder today. tree →
4) (informal) To do something very badly: She murdered that song. tree →
5) (informal, «could murder») To want something very much: I could murder a cup of tea. tree →
sense in the lessons
Interpretation: The Torah treats murder as one of the gravest sins, because every person is made in God's image. The prophets and psalms name murder among the great sins of a corrupt society, such as killing the widow, the stranger and the orphan. In the primary lessons: In stories, especially mysteries and crime novels, a murder is the puzzle detectives solve. In news it is a very serious crime. In everyday UK and Irish talk «murder» often means «really hard» or «really want». «Get away with murder» means to do bad things and not be punished.
examples
- They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. (Writings PSA.94.6, JPS 1917) tree →
- Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and offer unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye have not known, (Prophets JER.7.9, JPS 1917) tree →
- And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so doth the company of priests; they murder in the way toward Shechem; yea, they commit enormity. (Prophets HOS.6.9, JPS 1917) tree →
- The detective solved the murder in the last chapter. tree →
- Murder is one of the worst crimes. tree →
- Climbing that hill on a bike is murder! tree →
- I could murder a sandwich right now. tree →
- He murdered the high notes in the song. tree →
- My little sister gets away with murder. tree →
- A group of crows is called a murder. tree →
- He was accused of nothing less than murder. tree →
note
Murder means on purpose; killing by accident is not murder. Noun for the person: murderer. «A murder of crows» is a fun group noun. The informal senses are jokes and do not mean real killing.
In the corpora
- Thou shalt not murder.
- Thou shalt not murder.
- They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
- The Hatter finishes his tale: the Queen screamed «He's murdering the time!
- When the Hatter sang at the concert, the Queen «bawled out» (shouted) «He's murdering the time!
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «murder» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.