die

en-verb

die (third-person singular simple present dies, present participle dying, simple past and past participle died)

dies (present singular third-person)
dying (participle present)
died (participle past)
died (past)
die (infinitive)
die (first-person present singular)
died (first-person past singular)
die (present second-person singular)
diest (archaic present second-person singular)
died (past second-person singular)
diedst (archaic past second-person singular)
dies (present singular third-person)
dieth (archaic present singular third-person)
died (past singular third-person)
die (plural present)
died (past plural)
die (present subjunctive)
died (past subjunctive)
die (imperative present)
dying (participle present)
died (participle past)
dye (alternative)

→ Vietnamese: đai

From Middle English deyen, from Old English *dīeġan and Old Norse deyja, both from Proto-Germanic *dawjaną (“to die”). Displaced native Old English sweltan, whence Modern English swelt, and Old English steorfan, whence modern starve.

He died of malaria.

"What did she die of, Work'us?" said Noah.
"Of a broken heart, some of our old nurses told me," replied Oliver[…].

1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 6, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

In 1971 or 72, Mom's sister Carolyn Weimer died of breast cancer.

2000, Stephen King, On Writing, Pocket Books, published 2002, page 85:

(intransitive) To stop living; to become dead; to undergo death.

followed by of as an indication of direct cause; general use:

He died from heart failure.

She lived several weeks; but afterwards she died from epilepsy, to which malady she had been previously subject.

1865 March 4, British Medical Journal, page 213:

"Or all of them will die from the plague. Even if most of the candidates succumb […]"

2007, Frank Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, Sandworms of Dune, Tor, published 2007, page 191:

followed by from as an indication of direct cause; general use, though somewhat more common in the context of medicine or the sciences:

He died for the one he loved.

Englishmen are dying for England, Americans are dying for America, Germans are dying for Germany, Russians are dying for Russia. There are now fifty or sixty countries fighting in this war.

1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22, Simon & Schuster, published 1999, page 232:

Less than three days later, Johnson lapsed into a coma in his jail cell and died for lack of insulin.

2003, Tara Herivel, Paul Wright, editors, Prison Nation, Routledge, page 187:

followed by for; often expressing wider contextual motivations, though sometimes indicating direct causes:

Therefore let Benedicke like covered fire, / Consume away in sighes, waste inwardly: / It were a better death, to die with mockes, / Which is as bad as die with tickling.

1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year was very frequent in the land.

1830, Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, Richards, published 1854, page 337:

(now rare) followed by with as an indication of direct cause:

I can't believe I just died to a turret!

Dr Thomas concluded she had died to a blow to the head, which led to a bleed on the brain, probably a fall and had hit her head hard on the wooden bedpost, as there was blood on the bedpost.

2014, S. J. Groves, The Darker Side to Dr Carter, page 437:

(now sometimes proscribed) followed by to as an indication of direct cause (like from):

She died with dignity.

(still current) followed by with as an indication of manner:

Will I die a happy man?

(in bare form) to die in a certain form.

Returne with ſpeed, time paſſeth ſwift away,
Our life is fraile, and we may dye to day.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:

The cheeks drop in; the body bows;
Man dies: nor is there hope in dust: […]

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 54:


die

dies (present singular third-person)
dying (participle present)
died (participle past)
died (past)
dye (alternative)

Also no dyer shall die any cloth, except he die the cloth and the list with one colour, without tacking any bulrushes or such like thing upon the lists, upon pain to forfeit 40 s. for every cloth. And no person shall put to sale any cloth deceitfully dyed,

1739, John Cay, An abridgment of the publick statutes in force and use from Magna Charta, in the ninth year of King Henry III, to the eleventh year of his present Majesty King George II, inclusive, Drapery, XXVII. Sect. 16

To die wool with madder, prepare a fresh liquor, and when the water is come to a heat to bear the hand, put in half a pound of the finest grape madder for each pound of wool;

1813, James Haigh, The Dier's Assistant in the Art of Dying Wool and Woollen Goods:

To die Wool and Woollen Cloths of a Blue Colour. One part of indigo, in four parts concentrated sulphuric acid, dissolved; then add one part of dry carbonate of potash, [...]

1827, John Shepard, The artist & tradesman's guide: embracing some leading facts:


Thanatos

(Greek mythology) The god of death (specifically of a peaceful death), and twin brother of Hypnos (god of sleep); the Greek counterpart of Mors.


Thanatos

Civilization and Its Discontents
Paul Federn
Sigmund Freud
Thanatos

(psychoanalysis) The death drive in Freudian psychoanalysis.


hell

→ Korean: 헬 (hel)

From Middle English helle, from Old English hell, from Proto-West Germanic *hallju, from Proto-Germanic *haljō (“concealed place, netherworld”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover, conceal, save”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hälle (“hell”), West Frisian hel (“hell”), Dutch hel (“hell”), German Low German Hell (“hell”), German Hölle (“hell”), Norwegian helvete (“hell”), Icelandic hel (“the abode of the dead, death”). Also related to the Hel of Germanic mythology. See also hele.

cog

Hell (alternative proper-noun)
hel (alternative obsolete)
helle (alternative obsolete)

May you rot in hell!

Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 23:14:

Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.

Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, / Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman ſcorn'd.

1697, [William] Congreve, The Mourning Bride, a Tragedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, page 39:

Hell is a strait and dark and foul-smelling prison, an abode of demons and lost souls, filled with fire and smoke.

1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man:

(in many religions, uncountable) A place of torment where some or all sinners are believed to go after death and evil spirits are believed to be.

النَّار f (an-nār, literally “the Fire”)

នរកកុណ្ឌ

nĕəʼrĕəʼkaʼkon


lost with all hands

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-lost with all hands.wav

On the other hand, HMS Colossus takes multiple hits from several battleships at once, having drifted closer to the German fleet than the rest of her squadron. She explodes as multiple magazine detonations rip the ship apart, and is lost with all hands.

2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 21:33 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 2022-08-04:

(nautical, of a ship, boat, or other vessel) Destroyed or sunk, with all passengers and crew having died in the process.

boat; or other vessel; boat; or other vessel

met man en muis vergaan

destroyed or sunk, while all passengers and crew died

menetetty matkustajineen ja miehistöineen

taki, który utonął ze wszystkimi na pokładzie


kill

en-verb

kill (third-person singular simple present kills, present participle killing, simple past and past participle killed)

kills (present singular third-person)
killing (participle present)
killed (participle past)
killed (past)
kill (infinitive)
kill (first-person present singular)
killed (first-person past singular)
kill (present second-person singular)
killest (archaic present second-person singular)
killed (past second-person singular)
killedst (archaic past second-person singular)
kills (present singular third-person)
killeth (archaic present singular third-person)
killed (past singular third-person)
kill (plural present)
killed (past plural)
kill (present subjunctive)
killed (past subjunctive)
kill (imperative present)
killing (participle present)
killed (participle past)

From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots kele, keil (“to kill”).
* Perhaps from unattested Old English *cyllan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwulljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwuljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to throw, hit, hurt by throwing”).
* Or, possibly a variant of Old English cwellan (“to kill, murder, execute”) (see quell).
* Or, from Old Norse kolla (“to hit on the head, harm”), related to Norwegian kylla (“to poll”), Middle Dutch kollen (“to knock down”), Icelandic kollur (“top, head”); see also coll, cole).
Compare also Saterland Frisian källe (“to hurt”), Middle Dutch kellen (“to kill, hurt”), Middle Low German kellen, killen (“to ache strongly, cause one great pain”) (whence German Low German kellen, killen (“to hurt, injure, torment, vex”)), Middle High German kellen (“to torment; torture”).

cog

l-vocalizing: UK, General Australian, New Zealand

Smoking kills more people each year than alcohol and hard drugs combined.

A Troope of Horſe with Felt: Ile put't in proofe, / And when I haue ſtolne vpon theſe Son in Lawes, / Then kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi], page 304:

Stephano: Monſter, I will kill this man : his daughter and I will be King and Queene, ſave our Graces : and Trinculo and thy ſelfe ſhall be Vice-royes : […]

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 12:

Fire ants circumvented the problem of an ineffective sting by having an unusual and highly effective venom that when daubed or sprayed on other ants penetrates their waxy protective integumental barrier and kills or disables them.

2016, Justin O. Schmidt, The Sting of the Wild, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 102:

Indeed, referring to his drone murder extermination campaign Obama bragged: "I'm really good at killing people!" Those are Obama's own words!

2021, Francis A. Boyle, World Politics, Human Rights, and International Law, page 9:

After all, improving road safety has become a widely endorsed cause because nobody wants to kill, or be killed, in a road accident.

2024 September 16, Stéphane Foucart, 'To reduce their environmental impact, why not simply regulate the weight of cars?', Le Monde:

In announcing the review, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new health secretary, said in a statement that “antisemitism — like racism — is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues.”

2025 March 4, Sharon Otterman, “Trump Threatens Columbia With Millions in Cuts Over Antisemitism Claims”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2025-03-12:

(transitive) To put to death; to extinguish the life of.


fall

en-noun

fall (countable and uncountable, plural falls)

ascent

antonym(s) of “act of moving to a lower position under the effect of gravity”

ascent

antonym(s) of “loss of greatness or status”

Fall Classic
Fall of Baghdad
Fall of Constantinople
Fall of Rome
Fall of Saigon
Falls-to-Falls Corridor
fall

Verb from Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan (“to fall, fail, decay, die, attack”), from Proto-West Germanic *fallan (“to fall”), from Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”).
Cognate with West Frisian falle (“to fall”), Low German fallen (“to fall”), Dutch vallen (“to fall”), German fallen (“to fall”), Danish falde (“to fall”), Norwegian Bokmål falle (“to fall”), Norwegian Nynorsk falla (“to fall”), Icelandic falla (“to fall”), Lithuanian pùlti (“to attack, rush”).
Noun from Middle English fal, fall, falle, from Old English feall, ġefeall (“a falling, fall”) and Old English fealle (“trap, snare”), from Proto-Germanic *fallą, *fallaz (“a fall, trap”). Cognate with Dutch val, German Fall (“fall”) and German Falle (“trap, snare”), Danish fald, Swedish fall, Icelandic fall.
Sense of "autumn" is attested by the 1660s in England as a shortening of fall of the leaf (1540s), from the falling of leaves during this season. Along with autumn, it mostly replaced the older name harvest as that name began to be associated strictly with the act of harvesting. Compare spring, which began as a shortening of “spring of the leaf”.

inh

the fall of Rome


carcass

carcasses (plural)
carcase (alternative)

Dated from the late 13th Century C.E.; from Anglo-Norman carcois, possibly related to Old French charcois. Cognate with French carcasse. But cf. also Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬵𐬭𐬐𐬁𐬯𐬀 (kahrkās, “vulture”), and Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (klkʾs /kargās/, “vulture”), whence Persian کرکس (karkas, “vulture”).

cog

And when their ſcattered armie is ſubdu’d: / And you march on their ſlaughtered carkaſſes, / Share equally the gold that bought their liues, / And liue like Gentlmen in Perſea, […]

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:

And the carkeiſes of this people ſhall be meate for the fowles of the heauen, and for the beaſts of the earth, and none ſhall fray them away.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 7:33, column 1:


karoshi

Borrowed from Japanese 過労死 (karōshi), from 過労 (karō, “overwork”) + 死 (shi, “death”). Doublet of guolaosi and gwarosa.

For a while he began to speak Japanese, rather slangy, never having seemed to learn it — karoshi for death from overwork, yakitaori-ya for eatery, and gaijin for clumsy foreigner.

1976, Bill Henderson, The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, Pushcart Press, page 207:

Second, we discuss the problem of karoshi, which is unique to Japan. Karoshi has become an increasingly serious problem.

2006, Ronald J. Burke, Research Companion to Working Time and Work Addiction, page 158:

[…] I am a workaholic. […] The Japanese have a word for the problem: karōshi. It means “death from overwork.”

[2007 November, Gil Schwartz, “Escape from the job monster”, in Men's Health, volume 22, number 9, →ISSN, page 120:

In Japan there is a word for the consequences of extreme busyness: karoshi''', which means 'death from overwork'. Karoshi happens when chronic fatigue, stemming from long hours and persistent stress, leads to stroke and heart disease. For most of us, the results of a busyness-induced allostatic load are much less dramatic, but still pretty bad: being 'always on' has been linked to reductions in performance, reduced memory, and increased health risks of all kinds: cardiovascular disease, reduced immune system performance and an earlier death. One expert in the US approximated that 60-90 per cent of all visits to the doctor were stress related.

2008, Tony Crabbe, Busy, Preface, at page xi

Since the 1980s, labor lawyers and citizens groups have been pushing for changes to the law to recognize karoshi as a serious social issue.

2016 November 30, Emiko Jozuka and Yoko Wakatsuki, “Death by overwork: Pressure mounts on Japan to act”, in CNN Business:

Death, such as from heart attack or stroke, brought on by overwork or job-related stress.

九九六

literally 996; 9-to-9 workday and six-day workweek


slay

en-verb

slay (third-person singular simple present slays, present participle slaying, simple past slew or slayed, past participle slain or slayed or (obsolete) yslain)

slays (present singular third-person)
slaying (participle present)
slew (past)
slayed (past)
slain (participle past)
slayed (participle past)
yslain (obsolete participle past)

From Middle English sleen, slayn, from Old English slēan (“to strike, beat, smite, stamp, forge, sting, slay, kill, impact”), from Proto-West Germanic *slahan, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną (“to fight, strike, kill”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”).
Cognate with Dutch slaan (“to beat, hit, strike”), Low German slaan (“hit, strike”), German schlagen (“to beat, hit, strike”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish slå (“to knock, beat, strike”), Icelandic slá (“to strike”). Related to slaughter, onslaught.

cog

The knight slew the dragon.

Our foes must all be slain.

In the meane time it chaunced, that Marcus Papyrius ſtroke one of the Galles on the heade with his ſtaffe, because he preſumed to ſtroke his bearde: with whiche iniurie the Gaulle beeing prouoked, ſlue Papyrius (as he ſate) with hys ſworde, and therewith the ſlaughter being begun with one, all the reſidue of thoſe auncient fatherly men as they ſat in theyr Chayres were ſlaine and cruelly murthered.

1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “The Historie of Englande”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC, page 26, columns 1–2:

The Prince of Morocco:
[…]By this scimitar,
That slew the Sophy and a Persian prince
That won three fields of Sultan Solyman,
I would outstare the sternest eyes that look,
Outbrave the heart most daring on earth,
Pluck the young sucking cubs from the she-bear,
Yea, mock the lion when he roars for prey,
To win thee, lady. […]

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

Slay not your children, fearing a fall to poverty, We shall provide for them and for you. Lo! the slaying of them is great sin.

1930, Marmaduke Pickthall, transl., The Meaning of the Glorious Koran, surah 17, verse 31:

"This is a graph of the death rate from infectious disease in this country. The heroes of my field have slain one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. While the heroes of your field gathered in the desert to create a new one."

2015 May 4, Randall Munroe, xkcd (webcomic), Degree-Off:

(transitive, now literary) To kill; to murder.


stiff

en-adj

stiff (comparative stiffer, superlative stiffest)

stiffer (comparative)
stiffest (superlative)

From Middle English stiff, stiffe, stif, from Old English stīf, from Proto-West Germanic *stīf, from Proto-Germanic *stīfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *steypós.
See also West Frisian stiif, Dutch stijf, Norwegian Bokmål stiv, German steif; also Latin stīpes, stīpō, from which English stevedore.
The expected Modern English form would be /staɪf/; /stɪf/ is probably originally from compounds such as stiffly, where the vowel was shortened before a consonant cluster.

থিৰ

of an object, rigid, hard to bend, inflexible


stiff

en-noun

stiff (countable and uncountable, plural stiffs)

This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies!

1969 December 7, Monty Python, “Full Frontal Nudity, Dead Parrot sketch”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, spoken by Mr Praline (John Cleese):


dead

en-adj

dead (not generally comparable, comparative deader, superlative deadest)

deader (comparative)
deadest (superlative)

From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz. Compare West Frisian dead, dea, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish, Norwegian død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud.

(to have) gone to one's final resting place

You breathe these dead news in as dead an ear.

c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vii]:


death

en-noun

death (countable and uncountable, plural deaths)

From Middle English deeth, from Old English dēaþ, from Proto-West Germanic *dauþu, from Proto-Germanic *dauþuz (compare West Frisian dead, Dutch dood, German Tod, Swedish död, Norwegian død), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰówtus. More at die.

(antonym(s) of“beginning of life”): birth

(antonym(s) of“maintenance of existence”): life

sudden unexplained nocturnal death syndrome

When death walked in, a chill spread through the room.

And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, & his name that sat on him was Death"

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 6:8:

[T]o thoſe, Jonathan, who know what death is, and what havock and deſtruction he can make, before a man can well wheel about—'tis like a whole age.

1762, [Laurence Sterne], chapter IX, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume V, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […], →OCLC, page 51:

O boy! running man is out of death ... Anyway, they say she comes on a pale horse

1974, Anthony Banks, Michael Rutherford, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett, “Anyway”, in The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, performed by Genesis:

(often capitalized) The personification of death as a (usually male) hooded figure with a scythe; the Grim Reaper.


stone

en-verb

stone (third-person singular simple present stones, present participle stoning, simple past and past participle stoned)

stones (present singular third-person)
stoning (participle present)
stoned (participle past)
stoned (past)

From Middle English ston, stone, stan, from Old English stān, from Proto-West Germanic *stain, from Proto-Germanic *stainaz, from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- (“to stiffen”).
See also West Frisian stien, Saterland Frisian Steen, Dutch steen, German Stein, Danish and Swedish sten, Norwegian stein; also Russian стена́ (stená, “wall”), Ancient Greek στία (stía, “pebble”), στέαρ (stéar, “tallow”), Albanian shtëng (“hardened or pressed matter”), Sanskrit स्त्यायते (styāyate, “it hardens”)). Doublet of stein.

cog

stoned to death

She got stoned to death after they found her.

55 But hee being full of the holy Ghost, looked vp stedfastly into heauen, and saw the glory of God, and Iesus standing on the right hand of God,
56 And said, Behold, I see the heauens opened, and the Sonne of man standing on the right hand of God.
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their eares, and ran vpon him with one accord,
58 And cast him out of the citie, and stoned him: and the witnesses layd downe their clothes at a yong mans feete, whose name was Saul.
59 And they stoned Steuen, calling vpon God, and saying, Lord Iesus receiue my spirit.
60 And he kneeled downe, and cried with a loud voice, Lord lay not this sinne to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleepe.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 7:55–60:

An up slow train on the Howrah-Burdwan line, north of Calcutta, arrived 15 min. late at Belur recently. The delay resulted in several waiting passengers stoning the driver and the guard.

1955 March, “Indian Driver Stoned for Unpunctuality”, in Railway Magazine, page 190:

Our house was being stoned by a group of adolescent boys. We called the police seven times and they wouldn't come.

1980 February 9, Chris Guilfoy, anonymous quotee, “Town Meeting Talks About The Issue of Violence”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 28, page 1:

(transitive) To pelt with stones; especially, to kill by pelting with stones.


massacre

en-noun

massacre (countable and uncountable, plural massacres)

massacres (plural)
massacer (alternative archaic)

1580, from Middle French massacre, from Old French macacre, marcacre, macecre, macecle (“slaughterhouse, butchery”), usually thought to be deverbal from Old French macecrer, macecler (“to slaughter”), though the noun seems to be attested somewhat earlier. It is also found in Medieval Latin mazacrium (“massacre, slaughter, killing”, also “the head of a newly killed stag”). Further origin disputed:
* From Latin macellum (“butcher shop”).
* From Vulgar Latin *matteuculāre, from *matteuca (cf. massue), from Late Latin mattea, mattia, from Latin mateola.
* From Middle Low German *matskelen (“to massacre”) (compare German metzeln (“massacre”)), frequentative of matsken, matzgen (“to cut, hew”), from Proto-West Germanic *maitan, from Proto-Germanic *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“small”). Akin to Old High German meizan (“to cut”) among others.
* Note also Arabic مَجْزَرَة (majzara), originally “spot where animals are slaughtered”, now also “massacre”, and in Maghrebi Arabic “slaughterhouse”. Derived from جَزَرَ (jazara, “to cut, slaughter”).

der

I'll find a day to massacre them all,
And raze their faction and their family

c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Amritsar Massacre

The killing of a considerable number (usually limited to people) where little or no resistance can be made, with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and/or contrary to civilized norms.

butchery

mass killing contrary to civilized norms

decimation

strictly an orderly selection of ⅒ of a group for slaughter; see its entry for other terms concerning other ratios


kick the bucket

en-verb

kick the bucket (third-person singular simple present kicks the bucket, present participle kicking the bucket, simple past and past participle kicked the bucket)

kicks the bucket (present singular third-person)
kicking the bucket (participle present)
kicked the bucket (participle past)
kicked the bucket (past)

/ˈkɪk ðə ˈbʌkɪt/

There are many theories as to where this idiom comes from, but the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) suggests the following:
* A person standing on a pail or bucket with their head in a slip noose would kick the bucket so as to commit suicide. The OED, however, says that this is mainly speculative;
* An archaic use of bucket was a beam from which a pig is hung by its feet prior to being slaughtered, and to kick the bucket originally signified the pig's death throes. The OED finds this a more plausible theory.
Another theory is given by Roman Catholic Bishop Abbot Horne.

The old horse finally kicked the bucket.

My posthumous book Allegorizings, which will go to press in London and New York the minute I kick the bucket, is loosely governed by my growing conviction that almost nothing in life is only what it seems. It contains nothing revelatory at all.

2015 April 22, Sam Jordison, quoting Jan Morris, “Jan Morris talks about Venice”, in The Guardian:

(idiomatic, euphemistic, colloquial, humorous) To die.

сыгра́ть в я́щик (sygrátʹ v jáščik, literally “play into the casket”)

почить в бозе (počitʹ v boze, literally “sleep in God”) (solemn or ironical)

приказа́ть до́лго жить (prikazátʹ dólgo žitʹ, literally “order to live long”)

откинуть копыта (otkinutʹ kopyta, literally “throw away the hooves”)

протяну́ть ноги (protjanútʹ nogi, literally “stretch the legs”)

дать ду́ба (datʹ dúba, literally “give some oak”)

коньки́ отбро́сить (konʹkí otbrósitʹ, literally “throw away the skates”)


terminal

en-adj

terminal (comparative more terminal, superlative most terminal)

more terminal (comparative)
most terminal (superlative)

Borrowed from Late Latin terminalis (“pertaining to a boundary or to the end, terminal, final”), from Latin terminus (“a bound, boundary, limit, end”). See term, terminus.

der

terminal cancer


maternal death

en-noun

maternal death (countable and uncountable, plural maternal deaths)

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The death of a woman that occurs directly related to the procreative process; obstetric death.


will

wills (plural)
wille (alternative obsolete)

→ Bengali: উইল (uil)

From Middle English wille, from Old English willa (compare verb willian), from Proto-Germanic *wiljô (“desire, will”), from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, wish”). Cognate with Dutch wil, German Wille, Swedish vilja, Norwegian vilje.

der

“Uncle Barnaby was always father and mother to me,” Benson broke in; then after a pause his mind flew off at a tangent. “Is old Hannah all right—in the will, I mean?”

1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 1, in Well Tackled!:

(law) A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes.


doom

en-noun

doom (countable and uncountable, plural dooms)

From Middle English doom, dom, from Old English dōm (“judgement”), from Proto-West Germanic *dōm, from Proto-Germanic *dōmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰóh₁mos.
Compare West Frisian doem, Dutch doem, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish dom, Icelandic dómur. Doublet of duma. See also deem.

They met an untimely doom when the mineshaft caved in.

This is the day of doom for Bassianus.

1593, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus:

Harley got devoured by the undead / Lurking down in some old wizard's tomb / You can say there's no such thing as zombies / But that's how Harley Warren met his doom

2006, The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, “Harley Got Devoured by the Undead”, in An Even Scarier Solstice:

The engines were rumbling, missing every now and then, and Rachel leaned back in her seat, prepared to meet her doom somewhere over the Pacific. At least there was a priest at hand -- maybe she could entice him to hear a final confession.

2009, Anne Kristin Stuart, Tangled lies:


knock off

en-verb

knock off (third-person singular simple present knocks off, present participle knocking off, simple past and past participle knocked off)

knocks off (present singular third-person)
knocking off (participle present)
knocked off (participle past)
knocked off (past)

→ Dutch: afnokken (calque)

In the verb sense of stopping work, said to be from the practice aboard slave galleys to have a man beat time for the rowers by knocking on a block or drum; when he stopped, the rowers could rest.

faligi

to remove by hitting, to hit (something) off

The mobsters hired the guy to knock off their enemies.

The Hammers knocked off Arsenal on the strength of a 78th-minute tally from Jarrod Bowen.

(transitive, slang) To kill.
(sports, by extension) To defeat.


ghost

en-noun

ghost (countable and uncountable, plural ghosts)

ghosts (plural)
ghoast (alternative obsolete)
gost (alternative obsolete)

→ Japanese: ゴースト (gōsuto)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-ghost.wav

Inherited from Middle English gost, from Old English gāst, gǣst (“breath, spirit, soul, ghost”) (compare modern English Holy Ghost), from Proto-West Germanic *gaist, from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéysdos, derived from *ǵʰéysd- (“anger, agitation”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gäist, Jeest, West Frisian geast, Dutch geest, German Low German Geest, Geist, German Geist, Swedish gast.
The ⟨h⟩ in the spelling appears in the Prologue to William Caxton's Royal Book, printed in 1484, in a reference to the ‘Holy Ghoost’, likely introduced by Caxton's assistant, Wynkyn de Worde, as a result of Flemish influence, where it was spelled gheest at the time. Doublet of geist.

Everyone believed that the ghost of an old lady haunted the crypt.

The mighty ghosts of our great Harries rose.

1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

I thought that I had died in sleep/And was a blessed ghost

1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere:

For a moment I was puzzled, but presently, of course, it struck me that he must have seen Ayesha, wrapped in her grave-like garment, and been deceived by the extraordinary undulating smoothness of her walk into a belief that she was a white ghost gliding towards him.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:

A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death.


mourn

en-verb

mourn (third-person singular simple present mourns, present participle mourning, simple past and past participle mourned)

mourns (present singular third-person)
mourning (participle present)
mourned (participle past)
mourned (past)
morne (alternative)

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

rare, rhotic, with or without the horse–hoarse merger

rare, non-rhotic, with or without the horse–hoarse merger

From Middle English mornen, mournen, from Old English murnan, from Proto-Germanic *murnaną. Cognate with French morne (“gloomy”).

We mourn in black; why mourn we not in blood?

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 23:2:

Thane Krios: It seems there will be no one to mourn me when I die. You're the only friend I've made in ten years.

2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Nightmare:

(ambitransitive) To express sadness or sorrow for; to grieve over (especially a death).


autopsy

autopsies (plural)
autopsia (alternative archaic)

From New Latin autopsia, from Ancient Greek αὐτοψῐ́ᾱ (autopsĭ́ā, “seeing with one's own eyes”). By surface analysis, auto- + -opsy.

der

The autopsy revealed he had died of multiple bullet wounds.

A dissection performed on a cadaver to find possible cause(s) of death.


killer

en-adj

killer (comparative more killer, superlative most killer)

more killer (comparative)
most killer (superlative)

From Middle English killer, kyller. By surface analysis, kill + -er.

killer bee

killer robot

Causing death, destruction, or obliteration.


sacrifice

en-noun

sacrifice (countable and uncountable, plural sacrifices)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k-
Proto-Italic *sakros
Latin sacer
Latin sacrum
Proto-Italic *fakjō
Latin facio
Proto-Indo-European *-yós
Old Latin -ios
Latin -ius
Latin -ium
Latin sacrificiumlbor.
Old French sacrifisebor.
Middle English sacrifice
English sacrifice
From Middle English sacrifice (“act of offering a life or object to a deity; the life or object so offered; (Christianity) act of consecrating the elements in the mass”), from Anglo-Norman sacrefiz, and Old French sacrifice, sacrifise (modern French sacrifice), from Latin sacrificium (“something offered to a deity, sacrifice”), from sacrum (“sacrifice, sacrificial rite”) + faciō (“to do, to make”) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The noun sacrum is the nominalized neuter of the adjective sacer (“devoted to a deity for sacrifice; holy, sacred”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- (“ceremony, ritual; to make sacred”), and the verb faciō is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”). Related Latin formations include sacrificus (“of or pertaining to sacrifice, sacrificial”) and sacrificō (“to make a sacrifice”).
Cognates
* Italian sagrifizio
* Occitan sacrifici
* Portuguese sacrificio
* Spanish sacrificio

der

They firſt vvaſh the dead body, paint him, clothe him, and ſo conueigh him to his Dormitorie, vvhich is ſpacious and neat, vvherein they bury his Armolets, Bracelets, Shackles and ſuch Treaſure, concluding their Ceremonies vvith Mimmicke geſtures and eiaculations: vvhich, vvith the Sacrifice of a Goat, vpon his Graue, puts a period to their Burials.

1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “[Angola]”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, pages 9–10:

[T]he Beaſts they offered in ſacrifice, and the Gifts they offered, and their actions in VVorſhipping, vvere full of ſubmiſſion, and commemorative of benefits received, vvas according to reaſon, as proceeding from an intention to honour him [God].

1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Kingdome of God by Nature”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], →OCLC, 2nd part (Of Common-wealth), page 192:

[…] Moloch, horrid King beſmear'd with blood / Of human ſacrifice, and parents tears, / Though for the noyſe of Drums and Timbrels loud / Their childrens cries unheard, that paſt through fire / To his grim Idol.

1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature [B3], recto, lines 392–396:

This day the Philiſtines a popular Feaſt / Here celebrate in Gaza; and proclaim / Great Pomp, and Sacrifice, and Praiſes loud / To Dagon, as their God vvho hath deliver'd / Thee Samſon bound and blind into thir hands, […]

1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 32, lines 435–439:

Originally, the killing (and often burning) of a human being or an animal as an offering to a deity; later, also the offering of an object to a deity.

ахвярапрынашэ́нне

killing (and often burning) of a human being or an animal as an offering to a deity; offering of an object to a deity


succubus

Alteration in Middle English (based on incubus m) of Late Latin succuba (“strumpet, especially a mythological fiend in female form who has intercourse with men in their sleep”), from Latin succubo (“to lie under”), from sub- (“under”) + cubare (“to lie down”).

1977 Italo Calvino, The Castle of Crossed Destinies, Part 2, Chapter 5, 1969. Translated from Italian by William Weaver.
When the Sabbath is caught by the first ray of the rising sun, all the witches and the vampires, incubi and succubi, take flight, some transforming themselves into noctules, some into other bats, some into still other species of Chiroptera.

(mediaeval folklore) A female demon which comes to men, especially monks, in their dreams to seduce them and have sexual intercourse, drawing energy from the men to sustain themselves, often until the point of exhaustion or death.


Sophie's choice

en-noun

Sophie's choice (plural Sophie's choices)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Sophie's choice.wav

From the title of the book Sophie's Choice (1979), by William Styron, in which a mother is forced to decide which of her children will die.

As things turned out, all the enemy missiles were destroyed in flight -- two were hit very early after launch by an airborne laser system -- and a Sophie's choice was averted."

2004 March 17, Bradley Graham, “Simulated Attacks Repelled In Antimissile War Game; U.S. Almost Exhausted Arsenal of Interceptors”, in Washington Post, page A03:

We've been given a Sophie's Choice,' said Senate Minority Leader Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton. 'We can improperly care for some children vs. improperly care for other children.'

2004 March 2, “Committees OK boost for KidCare; Panels vote for additional $25M”, in Tallahassee Democrat:

A choice where every alternative has significant negative consequences.


bereavement

bereavement (countable and uncountable, plural bereavements)

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1864 November 21, Abraham Lincoln (signed) or John Hay, letter to Mrs. Bixby in Boston
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost

The state of being bereaved; deprivation; especially the loss of a relative by death.


cadaver

From Middle English cadaver, from Latin cadāver.

“Then my first year of med school, we got our first cadavers, and there was so much data inside. You can be sure a patient will lie about how much they drink or how much they smoke, but with a cadaver, all the information is there.”

2020, Raven Leilani, Luster, Picador (2021), page 98:

(literary, medicine) A dead body; especially the corpse of a human to be dissected.


KIA

KIAs (plural)
K.I.A. (alternative)
K. I. A. (alternative)

(military) A person who is killed in action.


KIA

K.I.A. (alternative)
K. I. A. (alternative)

killed in action
killed in action#English

(military) Initialism of killed in action.


inherit

en-verb

inherit (third-person singular simple present inherits, present participle inheriting, simple past and past participle inherited)

inherits (present singular third-person)
inheriting (participle present)
inherited (participle past)
inherited (past)

From Middle English enheriten, from Old French enheriter, from Late Latin inhereditare (“make heir”). Displaced native Old English ierfan.

وَرَثَ

to receive property or a title by legal succession etc.

After Grandad died, I inherited the house.

‘It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.’

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

(transitive) To receive (property, a title, etc.), by legal succession or bequest after the previous owner's death.

Lucky old Daniel – his grandfather died rich, and he's inherited.

(intransitive) To come into an inheritance.


regicide

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin rēgicida (“king-killer”).

lbor

The fact that the Yongle emperor was therefore a usurper, regicide and nepoticide (nephew-killer) made compiling the Veritable Record – or official history – of his reign a most dangerous scholarly post. The official given this ticklish task managed to survive several drafts, finally producing one that pleased his master as it omitted the dead nephew's reign altogether.

2014 September 15, Martin Gayford, “There's more to Ming than a vase [print version: 16 August 2014, pp. R6–R7]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review):


infanticide

en-noun

infanticide (countable and uncountable, plural infanticides)

From French infanticide, from Latin īnfanticīdium. By surface analysis, infant + -i- + -cide.

surf

(law, Canada) The criminal offence of killing of a newborn, committed by its mother while psychologically disturbed by the effects of childbirth or lactation, not regarded as murder.

(zoology) The killing of a young, immature animal by a mature adult of the same species.


insecticidal

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-insecticidal.wav

The insecticidal properties of sulphur were also known to the Romans, for in about 200 B.C. Cato suggested that its fumes should be allowed to blow through trees to kill the vine fetter.

1959, Gardeners' Chronicle, Horticultural Trade Journal:

Of, relating to, or being insecticide; insect-killing.


insecticide

en-noun

insecticide (countable and uncountable, plural insecticides)

From French insecticide, as insect + -icide.

The dried seed powder of custard apple (Annona squamosa L; family: Annonaceae) has been used as an insecticide in India and many other tropical countries since ancient times.

2009, Handbook of Pesticides: Methods of Pesticide Residues Analysis, →ISBN:


fungicide

fungicide (countable and uncountable, plural fungicides)

/ˈfʌŋɡɪsaɪd/

A substance used to kill fungus, whether yeasts, molds, mildews, or mushrooms.


crucifixion

crucifixion (countable and uncountable, plural crucifixions)

/ˌkɹuːsɪˈfɪkʃən/

From Middle English crucifixioun, from Late Latin noun of process crucifīxiō, from perfect passive participle crucifīxus (“fixed to a cross”), from crux (“cross”) + fīgō.

kruisiging

An execution by being nailed or tied to an upright cross and left to hang there until dead.

(Christianity, often capitalized) The death of Jesus Christ on the Cross.


resurrection

resurrection (countable and uncountable, plural resurrections)

/ɹɛzəˈɹɛkʃən/

/ɹɛzəˈɹɛkʃn̩/

From Anglo-Norman resurrectiun, from Old French resurrection (French: résurrection), from Late Latin resurrectionem (accusative of resurrectiō) from Latin resurgō (“I rise again”), from re- (“again”), + surgō (“I rise”). Displaced native Old English ǣrist.

(archaic) The act of bodysnatching (illicitly exhuming a cadaver).


execution

execution (countable and uncountable, plural executions)

From Old French execution (c.1360), from Latin exsecutiō, an agent noun from exsequor (“to follow out”), from ex (“out”) + sequor (“follow”).

The act of putting to death or being put to death as a penalty, or actions so associated.


executioner

/ˌɛksəˈkjuːʃənə/

A hit man, especially being in some organization.


pesticide

pesticide (countable and uncountable, plural pesticides)

“Twelve pesticides commonly applied to citrus groves are slated for study in the project’s plots,” reports Tom S. Bellows, UC Riverside assistant entomologist. They include four acaricides (Morestan, Kelthane, Pictran, Vendex), four thripsicides (Cygon, Carzol, Orthene, Sabadilla), and four scalicides (Parathion, Supracide, Lorsban, Sevin).

1983 May 26, “Pesticide residue effects under study”, in The Californian, volume 25, number 16, Temecula, Calif., page A-11:

Too much pesticide was applied and then washed from the fields by rains and surface runoff.

2001, David McConnell, The Good Earth: Companion Guide, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, →ISBN, page 1.12:

Pesticide and fertilizer use has been recorded since ancient times, […]

2011, Allan S. Felsot, Pesticides and Health: Myths vs. Realities, page 4:

Diluted neem oil can be effective as a pesticide and can control various fungal diseases, such as powdery mildew, on animals and plants.

2013, Meg Stout, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Aquaponic Gardening, →ISBN:

Anything, especially a synthetic substance but also any substance (e.g. sulfur), or virus, bacterium, or other organism, which kills or suppresses the activities of pests.

պեստիցիդ

substance used to kill or repress the activities of pests

marasin bilong pamim long gaden bilong kilim ol binatang samting

marasin bilong pinisim ol binatang nogut


germicide

An agent that kills pathogenic organisms; a disinfectant.


departure

departure (countable and uncountable, plural departures)

/dɪˈpɑː(ɹ)t͡ʃə(ɹ)/

From Old French deporteure (“departure; figuratively, death”). By surface analysis, depart + -ure.

uder

The time of my departure is at hand.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Timothy 4:6:

His timely departure […] barred him from the knowledge of his son's miseries.

a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:


necro-

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From Ancient Greek νεκρός (nekrós, “dead body”), from the Proto-Indo-European suffixed full-grade *nekro- of *neḱ- (“perish, disappear”); see also Middle Welsh angheu (“death”), Breton ankou, Old Irish éc, Latin noxius (“harmful”), nocēo (“to hurt, harm”), nex (“murder, violent death”) (as opposed to mors), Old Persian 𐎻𐎴𐎰𐎹𐎫𐎹 (vi-n-θ-y-t-y /vi-nathayatiy/, “he injures”), Avestan 𐬥𐬀𐬯𐬌𐬌𐬈𐬌𐬙𐬌 (nasiieⁱti, “disappears”), 𐬥𐬀𐬯𐬎- (nasu-, “corpse”), Sanskrit नश्यति (naśyati, “disappear, perish”).


necrophilia

en-noun

necrophilia (countable and uncountable, plural necrophilias)

/ˌnɛkɹə(ʊ)ˈfɪlɪə/

From necro- + -philia. From necro- (Ancient Greek νεκρός (nekrós, “corpse, dead”)) + -philia (Ancient Greek φιλία (philía, “affection”)), after German Nekrophilie (in Krafft-Ebing 1887).

uder

(medicine) A pathological fascination with death.


carnage

en-noun

carnage (usually uncountable, plural carnages)

/ˈkɑɹ.nɪd͡ʒ/

Borrowed from Middle French carnage, from a Norman or Picard variant Old Northern French) of Old French charnage, from char (“flesh”), or from Vulgar Latin *carnaticum (“slaughter of animals”), itself from Latin carnem, accusative of caro (“flesh”).

der

Unleash the wolves / Carnage has no rules / Comparison, competition / We'll bury one and all, all

2007, “Wolves”, in Robb Flynn (lyrics), The Blackening, performed by Machine Head, Track 7:

Carnage consumes all we’ve ever loved / The innocent blistered by the flame / Trial by fire we burn in shame

2019, “The Sea of Tragic Beasts”, performed by Fit for an Autopsy:


pogrom

Borrowed from Yiddish פּאָגראָם (pogrom), from Russian погро́м (pogróm).

More strikingly, when blood ran on the streets of Pittsburgh after the pogrom at the Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018, Trump did not meet with community leaders of the Pittsburgh Jewish community, nor the family members of the dead, nor even the city’s mayor. He spoke with Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to the United States.

2019 July 17, Talia Lavin, “When Non-Jews Wield Anti-Semitism as Political Shield”, in GQ:

An antisemitic hate crime with a large death toll, irrespective of the number of perpetrators.


bane

en-noun

bane (countable and uncountable, plural banes)

The noun is derived from Middle English bane (“person or thing that destroys life, murderer, slayer; person who destroys the soul; destruction of life, death, doom; poison”), from Old English bana (“person or thing that causes death, murderer”), from Proto-West Germanic *banō, from Proto-Germanic *banô (“killer, murderer, slayer; death, bane”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to slay, kill; to strike”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
cognates
* Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌽𐌾𐌰 (banja, “wound”)
* Old Frisian bona (“death; murder”)
* Old Norse bani (Danish bane (“death; murder”), Icelandic bani (“bane, death”), Swedish bane (“death; murder”)), Old Norse ben (“(moral) wound”)
* Old English ben, benn (“mortal injury; wound”)
* Old High German bano (“death”) (Middle High German ban, bane)
* Old Saxon bano (“death; murder”), beni (“mortal injury; wound”)

inh

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-bane.wav

напаст

cause of misery or ruin — see also affliction

I vvill not be affraid of Death and Bane, / Till Birnane Forreſt come to Dunſinane.

c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 149, column 2:

[I]f now again intoxicated and moaped with theſe royal, and therefore ſo delicious becauſe royal rudiments of bondage, the cup of deception, ſpiced and tempered to their bane, they ſhould deliver up themſelves to theſe glozing words and illuſions of him, vvhoſe rage and utmoſt violence they have ſuſtained, and overcome ſo nobly.

1650, [John Milton], “Intitled to the Prince of Wales”, in ΈΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΑΣΤΗΣ [Éikonoklastēs]. […], new (2nd) edition, London: […] G. Kearsly, […], published 1770, →OCLC, pages 272–273:

[A] great depopulation happened [due to the plague], at the Aſſiſes of Perſons of quality, and the tvvo Judges, Baron Yates, and Baron Rigby getting their banes there, died fevv dayes later.

1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section III. To Mrs. Anne Danvers of Chelsey.”, in The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, book IX, page 110:

Doctor [William] VVhitaker returning from Lambeth Conference, brought home vvith him the bane of his health, contracted there by hard and late ſtudying and vvatching in a very cold VVinter.

1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section VII”, in The History of the University of Cambridge, since the Conquest, [London]: [[…] Iohn Williams […]], →OCLC, paragraph 18, page 151:

(uncountable) Death; destruction; (countable) an instance of this.


ghoul

Portuguese: ghoul

From Persian غول (ġul) from Arabic غُول (ḡūl). Compare French goule, of the same origin.

A person with an undue interest in death and corpses, or more generally in things that are revolting and repulsive.


expire

en-verb

expire (third-person singular simple present expires, present participle expiring, simple past and past participle expired)

expires (present singular third-person)
expiring (participle present)
expired (participle past)
expired (past)
exspire (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English expire, from Middle French expirer, from Latin exspīrō, exspīrāre, from ex- (“out”) + spīrō, spīrāre (“breathe, be alive”).

The patient expired in hospital.

And then, his head ſinking on his pillow, he expired; at about half an hour after ten.

1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter CXIII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume VII, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC, page 415:

Hippolita, ſcarce more alive than her daughter, was regardleſs of every thing but her: but when the tender Iſabella’s care would have likewiſe removed her, while the ſurgeons examined Matilda’s wound, ſhe cried, remove me! never! never! I lived but in her, and will expire with her.

1764 December 24 (indicated as 1765), Onuphrio Muralto, translated by William Marshal [pseudonyms; Horace Walpole], chapter V, in The Castle of Otranto, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Lownds […], →OCLC, pages 190–191:

Soon the patient had no longer sufficient strength to sit up; the trunk of the body was inclined to the right side, the head high and thrown backward, the mouth wide open: she seemed to stifle rather than respire: lastly, speech and respiration failed her; she uttered, however, in a feeble voice, some incoherent words, said she felt she was dying, and, accordingly, expired the sixth day after entrance.

1833, R. J. Bertin, translated by Charles W. Chauncy, Treatise on the Diseases of the Heart, and Great Vessels, Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blnachard, page 185:

People bled to death like gentlemen in an operating room or expired without comment in an oxygen tent.

1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 168:


undead

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-undead.wav

From Middle English undede, equivalent to un- + dead. The first attestation is from around 1400. The term was revived, popularized, and imbued with supernatural connotations by its usage in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.

Pertaining to a corpse, though having qualities of life.


murderer

murderers (plural)
murtherer (alternative)

From Middle English murderere; equivalent to murder + -er.

It was two o'clock when she came to herself and called for the police. The murderer was gone long ago; but there lay his victim in the middle of the lane, incredibly mangled. The stick with which the deed had been done, although it was of some rare and very tough and heavy wood, had broken in the middle under the stress of this insensate cruelty

1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC:

I had never defrauded a man of a farthing, nor called him knave behind his back. But now the last rag that covered my nakedness had been torn from me. I was branded a blackleg, card-sharper, and murderer.

1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter II, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

“Every murderer is probably somebody’s old friend,” observed Poirot philosophically. “You cannot mix up sentiment and reason.”

1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 150:


testament

From Middle English testament, from Old French testament, from Latin testāmentum (“the publication of a will, a will, testament, in Late Latin one of the divisions of the Bible”), from testor (“I am a witness, testify, attest, make a will”), from testis (“one who attests, a witness”).

der

(law) A solemn, authentic instrument in writing, by which a person declares his or her will as to disposal of his or her inheritance (estate and effects) after his or her death, benefiting specified heir(s).


Grim Reaper

/ˈɡɹɪm ˈɹiː.pə/

/ˈɡɹɪm ˈɹi.pɚ/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Grim Reaper.wav

From grim + reaper, first attested 1847. The word grim previously had a stronger meaning ("fierce, angry, sinister") and had more of an association with ghostliness (compare Old English grima (“specter, apparition”), English grim (n.)). The association between grim and death dates back to at least the late 16th century (the line "grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image" appears in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew around 1590). The reaper element comes from the personification of Death as a reaper (harvester) of souls in connection to to the popular depiction of Death wielding a scythe. The symbol of the scythe itself comes from a partially unintentional conflation of Cronus (the Titan associated with the harvest, said to have used his scythe to castrate his father Uranus) and Chronos (the personification of Father Time).

cog

Her husband was dead, and Werper fancied that he could replace in the girl’s heart the position which had been vacated by the act of the grim reaper.

1916, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar:

"Golly, I feel like the devil!" muttered Anthony dispassionately. Relaxing, he tumbled back upon his pillow. "Bring on your grim reaper!"

1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 2, page 220:

Mary, will you be mine? Shall we go round together? Will you fix up a match with me on the links of life which shall end only when the Grim Reaper lays us both a stymie?

1922, P. G. Wodehouse, The Clicking of Cuthbert:

On the one hand, we had a scenario where, effectively, the American admiral just went "You know what, all the destroyers attack", at which point they mowed through the Japanese destroyers like a Grim Reaper through a harvest of very, very dead gorn, especially with the Brooklyns in support.

2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!, archived from the original on 2022-07-04:

But that is the likely outcome if the railway waits for Treasury's grim reaper to come a-calling.

2021 January 13, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Make freight an equal priority”, in Rail, page 3:

A personification of Death as an old man, or a skeleton, carrying a scythe, taking souls to the afterlife.

Chronos
Cronus
The Taming of the Shrew
Uranus_(mythology)

стару́ха с косо́й f (starúxa s kosój, literally “old woman with scythe”)


electrocution

en-noun

electrocution (countable and uncountable, plural electrocutions)

/ɪˌlɛktɹəˈkjuːʃən/

Blend of electro- + execution. By surface analysis, electrocute + -ion.

The accidental death or suicide by electric shock.


immortal

From Latin immortālis, from prefix im- (“not”) (from in-) + mortālis (“mortal”) (from mors (“death”), combining form mort- + adjectival suffix -alis), equivalent to im- + mortal. Displaced native undeadly, from Old English undēadlīċ.

Not susceptible to death; living forever; never dying.


immortal

The brutal insouciance of her fellow immortals — whether her sharp-tongued mother, Perse; or chilly Hermes; or righteous Athena enraged — proves increasingly alien to this thoughtful and compassionate woman who learns to love unselfishly.

2018 May 28, Claire Messud, “Turning Circe Into a Good Witch”, in The New York Times:


mortal

en-adj

mortal (comparative more mortal, superlative most mortal)

more mortal (comparative)
most mortal (superlative)

From Middle English mortal, mortel, from Old French mortal, and their source Latin mortālis, from mors (“death”). Partly displaced native deadly, from Old English dēadlīċ.

Blyndfold he was; and in his cruell fist
 A mortall bow and arrowes keene did hold […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

into the plain
Disgorged at length, the dead and the alive,
In one dread mass, were parted, and the stain
Of blood from mortal steel fell o’er the fields like rain.

1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 263:

Causing death; deadly, fatal, killing, lethal (now only of wounds, injuries etc.).

Safe in the hand of one disposing Power,
 Or in the natal or the mortal hour.

1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:

(religion, of a sin) Causing spiritual death.


mortal

Her wisdom was beyond that of a mere mortal.

Lord what fools these mortals be!

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

But then I had the flintlock by me for protection.
 There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window[…].

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:


mortal

It's mortal cold out there.

(colloquial) Mortally; enough to cause death.


mortality

en-noun

mortality (countable and uncountable, plural mortalities)

From Old French mortalite, from Latin mortālitās, from mortālis (“relating to death”), from mors (“death”); equivalent to mortal + -ity.

Why am I mockt with death, and length’nd out / To deathless pain? how gladly would I meet / Mortalitie my sentence, and be Earth / Insensible,

1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 774-777:

Learn to bear your Husband’s Death like a reasonable Woman. ’Tis not the fashion, now-a-days so much as to affect Sorrow upon these Occasions. No Woman would ever marry, if she had not the Chance of Mortality for a Release.

1728, [John] Gay, The Beggar’s Opera. […], London: […] John Watts, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene xi, page 37:

[…] like a sexton delving into a grave, possibly in quest of a jewel that had been buried on the dead man’s bosom, but likely to find nothing save mortality and corruption.

1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter X, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 154:

[…] the moldy odor of mortality hung wet in the air with the sulphurous fog […]

1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, chapter X, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 112:


immortality

immortality (countable and uncountable, plural immortalities)

/ˌɪmɔːˈtæləti/

/ˌɪmɔːɹˈtæləti/

From Middle English immortalitee, immortalite, from Old French immortalité, from Latin immortālitās.
Morphologically immortal + -ity.

خُلُود

condition of not being susceptible to death

In Greek mythology, Tithonus was granted immortality but not eternal youth.

In the little, as in the great things of life, are to be found the type and sign of our immortality. Every hope that looks forward is pledge of the hereafter to which it refers. Who rests content with the present? None. We have all deep within us a craving for the future.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Marriage Morning”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 201:

His one desire was to become the father of a man like himself, and it held him with a grip he only partially understood, for it was the first great desire, the first great passion of his life. Falling in love was a mere physical triviality, like warm sun or cool water, beside this divine hope of immortality: "I continue."

1905, E. M. Forster, Where Angels Fear to Tread, chapter 4

(religion, mythology, biology) The condition of being immortal.

The condition of being immortal.
Never dying


apoptosis

apoptosis (countable and uncountable, plural apoptoses)

From Ancient Greek ἀπόπτωσις (apóptōsis, “a falling off”), from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) + πτῶσις (ptôsis, “falling”).

der

The term apoptosis is proposed for a hitherto little recognized mechanism of controlled cell deletion, which appears to play a complementary but opposite role to mitosis in the regulation of animal cell populations.

1972, J. F. R. Kerr, A. H. Wyllie, A. R. Currie, “Apoptosis: A Basic Biological Phenomenon with Wide-ranging Implications in Tissue Kinetics”, in British journal of cancer, volume 26, →DOI:

Indeed, so important is apoptosis that it is gradually becoming clear that almost all therapeutic cancer treatment works only because it induces apoptosis by alerting p53 and its colleagues.

1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2004, page 238:

Apoptosis is routine in developmental processes such as the removal of webbing between fingers in humans, the loss of tadpole tails in amphibians, and insect metamorphosis.

2011, Terence Allen, Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 74:

(biology, cytology) A process of programmed cell death by which cells undergo an ordered sequence of events which leads to death of the cell, as occurs during growth and development of the organism, as a part of normal cell aging, or as a response to cellular injury.


behead

en-verb

behead (third-person singular simple present beheads, present participle beheading, simple past and past participle beheaded)

beheads (present singular third-person)
beheading (participle present)
beheaded (participle past)
beheaded (past)

From Middle English beheden, bihefden, biheveden, from Old English behēafdian (“to behead”), equivalent to be- (“off, away”) + head.

(transitive) To deliberately remove the head of; to cut off (someone's) head.


necropsy

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-necropsy.wav

Anatomy theory led to morbid anatomy in necropsy studies pursued by, among others, Johann Wepfer (1620–95) and Théophile Bonet (1620–89), both Swiss.

1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 255:

During the necropsy, he pored carefully through the body, combing the tissues and organs for signs of an abscess or wound.

2011, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of all Maladies, Fourth Estate, page 13:

(medicine) The pathological examination of a corpse, particularly to determine cause of death.


shuffle off this mortal coil

shuffle off this mortal coil (third-person singular simple present shuffles off this mortal coil, present participle shuffling off this mortal coil, simple past and past participle shuffled off this mortal coil)

shuffles off this mortal coil (present singular third-person)
shuffling off this mortal coil (participle present)
shuffled off this mortal coil (participle past)
shuffled off this mortal coil (past)

From Hamlet by William Shakespeare, see mortal coil.

For in that ſleepe of death, what dreames may come, / When we haue ſhuffel'd off this mortall coile, / Muſt giue vs pawſe.

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 265, column 2:

But when you and I shuffle off this mortal coil, formal remembrances won’t be the only way we are remembered.

2011 April 19, Sumit Paul-Choudhury, “Digital legacy: The fate of your online soul”, in NewScientist:

Handsome, with a Freud-like beard and piercing eyes, it was also said that he had perfected the death stare. Whenever he required the skeleton of some exotic beast to compare with his fossil bones, he would visit Basel Zoo and stare at the appropriate animal, which would soon thereafter shuffle off its mortal coil.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 81:

(euphemistic, idiomatic) To die; to divest oneself of one's mortal body.


amort

From Middle French à la mort (“to the death”) reinterpreted as all amort.

der

How fares my Kate? What, sweeting, all amort?

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

How nowe fellowe Franticke, what all a mort? Doth this sadnes become thy madnes?

c. 1590 (date written), G[eorge] P[eele], The Old Wiues Tale. […], London: […] Iohn Danter, for Raph Hancocke, and Iohn Hardie, […], published 1595, →OCLC, [lines 3-5]:

What, all amort, Signior, no Courage left?

1737, Susanna Centlivre, The Perjur’d Husband, London: W. Feales, act IV, scene 2, page 56:

The hallow'd hour was near at hand: she sighs / Amid the timbrels, and the throng'd resort / Of whisperers in anger, or in sport; / 'Mid looks of love, defiance, hate, and scorn, / Hoodwink'd with faery fancy; all amort, / Save to St. Agnes and her lambs unshorn, / And all the bliss to be before to-morrow morn.

1819, John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza VIII, page 87:

Here repose houris, dreamlike fair;
Eyes half amort by amorous care;
Marvels of flesh, wonders of hair!

1890, Francis Saltus Saltus, “The Harem”, in Shadows and Ideals, Buffalo: Charles Wells Moulton, page 338:

(archaic, literary) As if dead; depressed


decease

en-noun

decease (countable and uncountable, plural deceases)

From Old French deces (Modern French décès), from Latin dēcessus (“departure”).

So should that beauty which you hold in lease
Find no determination: then you were
Yourself again after yourself's decease […]

1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 13”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

I thought about my predecessor, who had died of drink and smoke; and I could have wished he had been so good as to live, and not bother me with his decease.

1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

رحل عن الحياة

departure, especially departure from this life; death


demise

demise (countable and uncountable, plural demises)

From Middle English demyse, dimise, dimisse, dymyse, from Middle French démise, the feminine singular past participle of démettre (“to put down, relinquish”); from Latin dēmissa, feminine singular of perfect passive participle of dēmittō. The "death" and "end" senses derive by way of euphemism from the legal sense, as a person's death was a common way that the legal demise could be accomplished.
The verb is from Middle English dimisen, from the noun.

Earth looked her loveliest to receive my sweet sister's gentle dust; but all was harsh and sullen as her own nature when Lady Avonleigh's haughty ashes returned to their original element. Immediately after her demise, her son went abroad, and I accompanied him.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 124:


fatal

en-adj

fatal (comparative more fatal, superlative most fatal)

more fatal (comparative)
most fatal (superlative)

From Middle French fatal, from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

a fatal wound; a fatal disease; that fatal day; a fatal mistake

Author Rita Mae Brown consistently strings together short comical movie clips which may be fine for screenplays but fatal in novels. Unfortunately, Toder chooses to imitate this model and her story suffers.

1980 December 6, Cindy Rizzo, “Jewish, Lesbian, Feminist, Psychologist, Author--All of the above and more”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 20, page 9:

Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.

2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:


fatality

[feɪ̯ˈtʰælɪɾi]

From French fatalité. equivalent to fatal + -ity.


lethal

lethal (comparative more lethal, superlative most lethal)

more lethal (comparative)
most lethal (superlative)

Learned borrowing from Latin lētālis (“deadly, mortal, fatal”), improperly written lēthālis, from lētum (“death”), improperly written as lēthum, from a supposed connection with Ancient Greek λήθη (lḗthē, “oblivion, forgetfulness”).

ncog

Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.

2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

Of, pertaining to, or causing death; deadly; mortal; fatal.

مُمِيت

of, pertaining to, or causing death; deadly; mortal; fatal


lethal

(genetics) An allele that causes the death of the organism that carries it.


predecease

‘Private: for the hands of J. G. Utterson alone and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unread,’ so it was emphatically superscribed; and the lawyer to behold the contents.

1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Remarkable Incident of Doctor Lanyon”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 59–60:

The death of one person or thing before another.


holocaust

The noun is derived from Middle English holocaust (“burnt offering”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman holocauste, Old French holocauste, olocauste (modern French holocaust), from Late Latin holocaustum, from Ancient Greek ὁλόκαυστον (holókauston), the neuter form of ὁλόκαυστος (holókaustos, “wholly burnt”), from ὅλος (hólos, “entire, whole”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole”)) + καυστός (kaustós, “burnt”) (from καίω (kaíō, “to burn, burn up”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂w-).
The verb is derived from the noun. As regards verb sense 3 (“to subject (a group of people) to a holocaust”), compare the use of genocide as a verb.

ref

From Gerard Hoet (1728) Figures de la Bible, The Hague: Chez Pierre de Hondt, →OCLC.

inh

Alternative letter-case form of Holocaust (“the systematic mass murder (democide or genocide) of Jews (and, more broadly, of disabled people, homosexuals, Romanis, Slavs, and others) perpetrated by Nazi Germany shortly before and during World War II”); hence, the state-sponsored mass murder of a particular group of people in society.


macabre

en-adj

macabre (comparative more macabre, superlative most macabre)

more macabre (comparative)
most macabre (superlative)

/ˌməˈkɑː.bɹə/

/ˌməˈkɑ.bɹə/

Borrowed from French macabre, whose etymology is uncertain. Possibly from the term danse macabre, most commonly believed to be from corruption of the biblical name Maccabees; compare Latin Chorea Machabaeorum.
Another theory derives the French term (through Spanish macabro) from Arabic مَقَابِر (maqābir, “cemeteries”), plural of مَقْبَرَة (maqbara) or مَقْبُرَة (maqbura).

There are four fundamental figures. One is a man measuring and comparing his world[…] In front of him is a macabre figure, a cadaver ready to be dissected. This symbolizes man serving mankind. The third figure is the scientist, the man who makes use of the information gathered in the first two fields of mensurable science.

1941, George C. Booth, Mexico's School-made Society, page 106:


Hades

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Hades.wav

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ᾍδης (Hā́idēs).

lbor

(Greek mythology) The underworld, the domain of Hades, by transference from its god.

In the Septuagint Bible, the Greek translation of Sheol.

(specifically, chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy) Hell as a waiting place for damned souls before the Last Judgement, after which they may be cast in Gehenna.


Sheol

Borrowed from Hebrew שְׁאוֹל, שְׁאֹל (sheól, “abode of the dead, underworld, netherworld, etc.”).

bor

Hebrew שְׁאוֹל

(Old Testament) The realm of the dead, the common grave of mankind, Hell. In older English translations of the Bible, notably the Authorized Version or King James Bible, this word sheol is translated inconsistently and variously as grave (31 times), pit (3 times) or hell (31 times: e.g., De. 32:22; 2Sa. 22:6; Job 11:8; Ps. 9:17).


necromancy

en-noun

necromancy (countable and uncountable, plural necromancies)

necromancies (plural)
necyomancy (alternative)
egromancy (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-necromancy.wav

Circa 1300, from Middle English nigromancye, from Old French nigromancie, from Medieval Latin nigromantia, from Latin necromantia, from Ancient Greek νεκρομαντεία (nekromanteía), νεκρός (nekrós, “dead”) + μαντεία (manteía, “divination”). Medieval Latin spelling, incorporating niger (“black”), influenced by the notion of black art. Modern spelling adopted in mid-1500s. By surface analysis, necro- + -mancy.

der

νεκρομαντεία

And for to make this treatise the more pleasaunt and facill, I have put it in forme of a Dialogue, which I have diuided into three bookes: The first speaking of Magie in general, and Necromancie in special.

1597, King James Daemonologie, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

And in one word for all, Nagomancy, or Necromancy; by inspecting, consulting, and divining by, with, or from the dead.

1652, Gaule The Magastromancer, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

1867 E. Rogers, quoted in K. Thomas Relig. & Decline of Magic
the Devil did often tempt me to study necromancy and nigromancy and to make use of magic, and to make a league with him...

There is no doubt..that necromancy is the touch-stone of occultism...


euthanize

en-verb

euthanize (third-person singular simple present euthanizes, present participle euthanizing, simple past and past participle euthanized)

euthanizes (present singular third-person)
euthanizing (participle present)
euthanized (participle past)
euthanized (past)
euthanise (alternative)
euth (alternative)
euthanase (alternative)
euthanaze (alternative)

John decided to euthanize his dying dog.

A terminally ill minor has become the first child to be euthanized in Belgium since age restrictions were lifted in the country two years ago.

2016, Chandrika Narayan, First child dies by euthanasia in Belgium, CNN:

(transitive) To carry out euthanasia on (a person or animal).

aflive

submit (a person or an animal) to euthanasia


euthanasia

en-noun

euthanasia (usually uncountable, plural euthanasias)

euthanasias (plural)
euthanasy (alternative archaic)

→ Japanese: ユーサネイジア (yūsaneijia)

/juːθəˈneɪʒə/

First attested in 1606, from Ancient Greek εὐθανασία (euthanasía), from εὐ- (eu-, “good”) + θάνατος (thánatos, “death”)

vdekje e lehtë

practice of killing a human being or animal

It would in time, it is to be hoped, effect a quiet euthanasia of the heresies of bigotry and fanaticism which have so long triumphed over human reason, and so generally and deeply afflicted mankind; but this work is to be begun by winnowing the grain from the chaff of the historians of his life.

1819 October 31, Thomas Jefferson, Letter To William Short, Monticello:

Had they understood their place, and what to do in it, this French Revolution, which went forth explosively in years and in months, might have spread itself over generations; and not a torture-death but a quiet euthanasia have been provided for many things.

1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Kings and Emigrants”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book V (Parliament First):

This purely painless process, this descent by oblivious trance into oblivion, this natural physical death, is the true euthanasia; and it is the duty of those we call physicians to secure for man such good health as shall bear him in activity and happiness onward in his course to this goal. For euthanasia, though it be open to every one born of every race, is not to be had by any save through obedience to those laws which it is the mission of the physician to learn, to teach, and to enforce. Euthanasia is the sequel of health, the happy death engrafted on the perfect life.

1876, Natural Euthanasia: Popular Science Monthly, volume 8:

For myself I could hold it in my account with God to find such an euthanasia for you, even at this moment if it were best.

1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:

(obsolete) An easy death, or the means to bring about such a death.


perish

en-verb

perish (third-person singular simple present perishes, present participle perishing, simple past and past participle perished)

perishes (present singular third-person)
perishing (participle present)
perished (participle past)
perished (past)

From Middle English perishen, borrowed from Old French perir (via the stem periss- used in various conjugations), from Latin perīre (“pass away, perish”), from per (“through”) + īre (“pass, go”).

When it goeth well with the righteous, the citie reioyceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 11:10:

[…]the ship struck upon a sand, and […] the sea broke over her in such a manner that we expected we should all have perished immediately; and we were immediately driven into our close quarters, to shelter us from the very foam and spray of the sea.

1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:

(intransitive) To die; to cease to live.


deicide

en-noun

deicide (countable and uncountable, plural deicides)


assassination

The assassination of the king occurred at night.

Liu's agents pursued him and he escaped assassination only by throwing his clothing away by the Chʻien-tʻang River near Hangchow, thus suggesting suicide.

1963, “Introduction”, in Wing-tsit Chan, transl., Instructions for Practical Living and Other Neo-Confucian Writings by Wang Yang-ming, Columbia University Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page xxiv:

The murder of a person, especially for political reasons or for personal gain.


moribund

/ˈmɔːɹɪbʌnd/

These moribund shapes were free as air—and nearly as thin.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 206, column 2:

Approaching death; about to die; dying; expiring.


deceased

From decease + -ed, from Middle English deceas via Old French [Term?], from Latin dēcessus (“departure”), equivalent to dēced-, variation of dēcēdō, dēcēdere (“to go away”).

1969, Monty Python, Dead Parrot Sketch
That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.

Publicity handouts from Dick's long-deceased record label would have us believe that he was born in Cleveland in 1952.

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 272:

(qualifier, postposition) мәрхүм (mərxüm)


asphyxia

asphyxia (countable and uncountable, plural asphyxias)

Learned borrowing from New Latin asphyxia, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀσφυξία (asphuxía, “stopping of the pulse”).

der

Hypoxaemia [...is] a deficient oxygenation of the blood; asphyxia from defective oxygenation of the blood.

1895, Robley Dunglison, Richard J. Dunglison, A Dictionary of Medical Science containing a full explanation of the various subjects and terms of anatomy, physiology, medical chemistry, pharmacy, pharmacology, therapeutics, medicine, hygiene, dietetics, pathology, bacteriology, surgery, ophthalmology, otology, laryngology, dermatology, gynecology, obstetrics, pediatrics, medical jurisprudence, dentistry, etc. 21 edition:

(medicine, obsolete) A condition in which an extreme decrease in the concentration of oxygen in the body leads to loss of consciousness or death. Replaced in the mid-20th century by the more specific terms anoxia, hypoxia, hypoxemia and hypercapnia.

asfiksi

condition with extreme decrease of oxygen and increase of carbon dioxide


necrosis

en-noun

necrosis (countable and uncountable, plural necroses)

From Ancient Greek νέκρωσις (nékrōsis), equivalent to necro- + -osis.

Usually gangrene will follow necrosis unless the dead tissue is resected.

These included multilobular consolidation with histiological lesions of bronchiolitis with epithelial necrosis and syncytia.

2015 November 17, “Single Pathogen Challenge with Agents of the Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

the interruption of blood supply
ischemia

(pathology) The localized death of cells or tissues through injury, disease, or the interruption of blood supply.


dybbuk

dybbuks (plural)
dybbukim (plural)
dibbuk (alternative)

From Yiddish דיבוק (dibek), from Hebrew דבק (dovek, “cling”).

(mythology, Judaism) A malicious possessing spirit, believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person.


uxoricide

uxoricide (countable and uncountable, plural uxoricides)

From French uxoricide or Latin uxōricīdium.

/ʌkˈsɔː.ɹɪˌsaɪd/

Terms related to familicide include filicide (the killing of one's child or children), uxoricide (the killing of one's wife), fratricide or sororicide (the killing of one's brother or sister), avunculicide (the killing of one's uncle), and nepoticide (the killing of one's nephew).

2014, Albert Lee Strickland, “Familicide”, in Michael John Brennan, editor, The A–Z of Death and Dying: Social, Medical, and Cultural Aspects, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, pages 205–206:

In order for someone to green-light a movie of this story, they’d need to have at least background knowledge of the sexual shenanigans of Sartre and Beauvoir, and of Althusser’s uxoricide – though not necessarily a close acquaintance with their published work.

2015, Will Self, ‘Man-Eating Philosophers’, London Review of Books, volume 37, number 12:

suicide

the act of killing oneself/one who kills oneself


matricide

matricide (countable and uncountable, plural matricides)

From French matricide, from Latin mātricīda (“person who kills his own mother”) and mātricīdium (“the murder of one's mother”). By surface analysis, matri- + -cide.

der

Gerald was imprisoned for matricide: he strangled his mother.


genocide

en-noun

genocide (countable and uncountable, plural genocides)

Armenian genocide
Terminology of the Armenian genocide
The Holocaust
genocide

Coined by lawyer of Polish-Jewish descent Raphael Lemkin in 1943 or 1944 in reference to the Armenian Genocide (then known by other names; see: Terminology of the Armenian genocide) and the Jewish Holocaust. From the stem of Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “race, kind”) (cognate with Latin gēns (“tribe, clan”), whence genus) + -cide (“killing, killer”). Piecewise doublet of gendercide. Compare genticide.

der

(by extension) The systematic killing of substantial numbers of people on other grounds.

ជនឃាត

cĕəʼnĕəʼkhiət


homicide

en-noun

homicide (countable and uncountable, plural homicides)

homicides (plural)
hominicide (alternative)

From Old French homicide, from Latin homicīda (“man-slayer”) and homicīdium (“manslaughter”).

(countable, uncountable, crime) The killing of one person by another, whether premeditated or unintentional.


Valkyrie

The proper noun Valkyries was attested before the common noun valkyries. See the entry valkyrie for more.


extinct

PIE word
 *h₁eǵʰs
From Late Middle English extinct (“eliminated, eradicated, extinguished”), from Latin extīnctus, exstīnctus (“extinguished, quenched; destroyed, killed; made extinct”), the perfect passive participles of extinguō, exstinguō (“to extinguish, put out, quench; (figurative) to abolish; to destroy, kill”), from ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + stinguō (“to extinguish, put out, quench”) (from Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- (“to push”)). The Middle English word displaced Middle English aqueint, aquenched (“extinct; extinguished”). Doublet of extinguish.

der

Most of the volcanos on this island are now extinct.

They found the sites of extinct geysers.

(geology) Of a geological feature: no longer active; specifically, of a volcano: no longer erupting.

изгаснал

of a geological feature: no longer active; of a volcano: no longer erupting


afterlife

en-noun

afterlife (plural afterlives or (rare, proscribed) afterlifes)

afterlives (plural)
afterlifes (plural proscribed rare)

Many religious people believe in an afterlife.

Read in euery Starre, and let the Moone be your Candle to doe it, the prouident disposition of God, the eternitie of your after-life.

1614, Thomas Adams, “The Sinners Passing-Bell”, in The Devills Banket, London: Ralph Mab, page 219:

1715, Alexander Pope, The Temple of Fame, London: Bernard Lintott, Note to p. 16, ver. 5,
Those heroick Barbarians accounted it a Dishonour to die in their Beds, and rush’d on to certain Death in the Prospect of an After-Life […]

1891, Ambrose Bierce, “A Watcher by the Dead” in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, San Francisco: E.L.G. Steele, p. 175,
I, who have not a shade of superstition in my nature—I, who have no belief in immortality—I, who know […] that the after-life is the dream of a desire

Each person took this paper money and dropped it into a huge tin drum which held within it a fierce fire, a bonfire of heavenly money for Tiger’s afterlife.

2005, Tash Aw, chapter 6, in The Harmony Silk Factory, New York: Riverhead Books, page 67:

A conscious existence after death; a supernatural life that follows one's natural life, in some worldviews.


rigor mortis

rigor mortis (usually uncountable, plural rigor mortises)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-rigor mortis.wav

Learned borrowing from New Latin rigor mortis (literally “stiffness of death”). First attested in 1842.

lbor

Such are the principal phenomena observed during that form of contraction which I conceive to be analogous to the rigor mortis...

1840, Royal Society of London, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, page 491:

Then we carried in poor Austin from the yard. His muscles were set as hard as a board in the most exaggerated rigor mortis, while the contraction of the fibres had drawn his mouth into a hard sardonic grin.

1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

[…]an unpublished writer who, for all his ambition and flashes of talent, had not been trained in the rigours (nor rigor mortises, for that matter) of a university education.

1991, Bruce Bennett, Spirit in Exile: Peter Porter and His Poetry, Oxford University Press, page 56:

Its wood can neither be carved nor used for the making of the furniture because of the volatility of those characteristics of the nutrients it has sucked which come from innumerable varieties of rigor mortises.

2009, A.S.Q., The Anatomy of Grief, AuthorHouse, page 109:

Instead, Tender Buttons destabilizes persistent syntactic arrangements and lexical rigor mortises to assert that “certainly glittering is handsome and convincing,” glittering a radiant process of flux and variance.

2010, Dean Young, The Art of Recklessness: Poetry as Assertive Force and Contradiction, Graywolf Press, pages 66–67:

Temporary stiffness of a body's muscles and joints following death.


corpsicle

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-corpsicle.wav

Blend of corpse + popsicle. The cryogenic sense is a coinage by author Frederik Pohl in The Age of the Pussyfoot (1969).

It started when a janitor found a corpsicle floating in a rooftop swimming pool next to Central Park one August morning. A stiff, but I mean stiff.

1992, Spider Robinson, Lady Slings the Booze, page 9:

Eventually, the much-travelled corpsicle arrived back at the family farm, where she was stripped of her plastic shroud and set on the lawn to thaw out before being laid to rest.

1995, The Bermudian - Volume 66, Issues 7-12, page 13:

But if he wandered away in a confused state when the dark came on, he's a corpsicle by now.”

2007, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Out of the Deep I Cry:


obituary

/əˈbɪt͡ʃʊ(ə)ɹi/

/əˈbɪt͡ʃəˌwɛɹi/

/əˈbɪt͡ʃuˌɜɹi/

/əˈbɪt͡ʃəɹi/

Baldomero Lillo
La Nación
Susannah Maxwell

PIE word
 *h₁epi
Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin obituārius (“obituary”) + English -ary (suffix denoting something relating to another thing or used in a place). Obituārius is derived from Latin obitus (“act of approaching or going toward, an approach; act of going down, setting; of the sun: sunset; death; destruction, downfall, ruin”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives and agent nouns); while obitus is a noun use of the perfect passive participle of obeō (“to go to meet, go towards; (figurative) to die, pass away, perish; (astronomy) to set”), from ob- (prefix meaning ‘toward’) + eō (“to go, move”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”).

doodberig

brief notice of a person’s death, especially one published in a newspaper

[N]ot one in fifty of the actual disasters and deaths by casualties in the fishery, ever finds a public record at home, however transient and immediately forgotten that record. Do you suppose that that poor fellow there, who this moment perhaps caught by the whale-line off the coast of New Guinea, is being carried down to the bottom of the sea by the sounding leviathan—do you suppose that that poor fellow's name will appear in the newspaper obituary you will read to-morrow at your breakfast?

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Affidavit”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 228:

The newspaper came in, as usual, after breakfast. I looked it over, and discovered this memorable entry, among the obituary announcements of the day:— "On the 29th inst., at Brighton, Michael Vanstone, Esq., formerly of Zurich, aged 77."

1862, [William] Wilkie Collins, “VIII. Chronicle for April and May.”, in No Name. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co., […], →OCLC, between the scenes (Chronicle of Events: Preserved in Captain Wragge’s Despatch Box), page 21:

“You want to know the ironic thing? I wrote my son’s obituary using ChatGPT,” Mr. Taylor said.

2025 June 13, Kashmir Hill, “They Asked ChatGPT Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A brief notice of a person's death, especially one published in a newspaper or other publication; also (obsolete), the section of a newspaper where notices of deaths are published.


Anointing of the Sick

A Catholic sacrament in which a priest anoints a sick or dying person with oil and prays for his salvation.


dying

en-noun

dying (countable and uncountable, plural dyings)

“I'm looking forward to the most fascinating experience in life, which is dying,” he said. “You've got to approach your dying the way you live your life—with curiosity, with hope, with fascination, with courage and with the help of your friends.”

1995 November 26, Laura Mansnerus, quoting Timothy Leary, “At Death's Door, the Message Is Tune In, Turn On, Drop In”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The process of approaching death; loss of life; death.


deathbed

deathbeds (plural)
death-bed (alternative)
death bed (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-deathbed.wav

From Middle English dethbed, from Old English dēaþbedd (“deathbed; grave”), equivalent to death + bed. Cognate with Swedish dödsbädd (“deathbed”). Compare also Dutch sterfbed (“deathbed”), German Sterbebett and Totenbett (both “deathbed”), Danish dødsleje (“deathbed”).


necromancer

necromancers (plural)
nigromancer (alternative)
necromance (alternative)

/ˈnɛkɹəˌmænsɚ/

An alteration of nigromancer after necromancy, equivalent to necromancy + -er.

Necromancers were thought to have the power of restoring activity to the dead, either temporarily or permanently[.]

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 52:

A person who practices or performs necromancy.


necrology

en-noun

necrology (countable and uncountable, plural necrologies)