lynch

¹

[linch]

verb (used with object)

1. to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority.

   In the 19th and 20th centuries, thousands of southern African Americans were lynched by white mobs.

2. to criticize, condemn, etc., in public.

   He’s been unfairly lynched in the media.

Lynch

²

[linch]

noun

1. John Jack, 1917–1999, Irish political leader: prime minister 1966–73, 1977–79.

Lynch

¹

/ lɪntʃ /

noun

1. David. born 1946, US film director; his work includes the films Eraserhead (1977), Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), Mulholland Drive (2001), and Inland Empire (2006), and the television series Twin Peaks (1990)

2. John, known as Jack Lynch. 1917–99, Irish statesman; prime minister of the Republic of Ireland (1966–73; 1977–79)

lynch

²

/ lɪntʃ /

verb

1. (tr) (of a mob) to punish (a person) for some supposed offence by hanging without a trial

Other Word Forms

• lyncher noun
• antilynching adjective
• lynching noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of lynch¹

An Americanism first recorded in 1825–35; verb use of lynch in lynch law

Word History and Origins

Origin of lynch¹

probably after Charles Lynch (1736–96), Virginia justice of the peace, who presided over extralegal trials of Tories during the American War of Independence

Synonym Study

See hang.

Example Sentences

"My eyes were blindfolded, but I could hear men and children and they started to lynch me with their bare hands, and the kids' shoes start to hit me when I was on the ground."

From BBC

Some seem to be smiling, reminiscent of the merry onlookers grinning for the camera in grisly lynching photos.

From Salon

Her father, the late actor Henry Fonda, witnessed the lynching of a Black man during the 1919 Omaha race riots when he was 14, casting him into becoming a lifelong liberal.

From Los Angeles Times

The pictures show the mob ruthlessness of lynching — the extrajudicial murder of human beings, usually by hanging from a tree.

From Los Angeles Times

Historically, in many lynchings, law enforcement either carried out the violence directly, organized the mobs who did or at least stood by and watched without intervening.

From Salon