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# murder

«murder» in Mova's school dictionary: **The crime of killing a person on purpose** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (murder, a murder, murders); verb (murder, murders, murdered, murdering)

### meaning for a pupil

1) The crime of killing a person on purpose. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#m1)

2) Verb: to kill a person on purpose, against the law. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#m2)

3) (informal) Something very hard or unpleasant: The traffic was murder today. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#m3)

4) (informal) To do something very badly: She murdered that song. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#m4)

5) (informal, «could murder») To want something very much: I could murder a cup of tea. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In stories, especially mysteries and crime novels, a murder is the puzzle detectives solve. In news it is a very serious crime. In everyday UK and Irish talk «murder» often means «really hard» or «really want». «Get away with murder» means to do bad things and not be punished.

### examples

- The detective solved the murder in the last chapter. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#x1)
- Murder is one of the worst crimes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#x2)
- Climbing that hill on a bike is murder! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#x3)
- I could murder a sandwich right now. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#x4)
- He murdered the high notes in the song. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#x5)
- My little sister gets away with murder. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#x6)
- A group of crows is called a murder. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#x7)
- He was accused of nothing less than murder. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/#x8)

### note

Murder means on purpose; killing by accident is not murder. Noun for the person: murderer. «A murder of crows» is a fun group noun. The informal senses are jokes and do not mean real killing.

### In the corpora

- [The Hatter finishes his tale: the Queen screamed «He's murdering the time!](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/1/)
- [When the Hatter sang at the concert, the Queen «bawled out» (shouted) «He's murdering the time!](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/14/)
- [Off with his head!»; to murder the time also means to sing it badly out of rhythm.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/14-alice-a-mad-tea-party-2/15/)
- ["Whacked" is American gangster slang for murdered.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/11/)
- ["Sleeping with the fishes" is American gangster slang for murdered and dumped in water.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «murder» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/murder/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.