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How Is Manslaughter Different From Murder?The jury in the murder trial of former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserler returned a verdict of involuntary manslaughter today. How can a person cause the death of another without the act being considered a murder? In the universe of legalese, words can perform in unusual ways. Manslaughter, simply defined, is “the unlawful killing of a human being without malice.” American law designates two types …
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Idioms
- the row of cells in a prison where murderers and other violent or hard-core criminals are held.See also death row.
- Baseball. a succession of heavy hitters scheduled to bat one after the other.
- any group of notorious or important people: a murderers' row of talent; a murderers' row of philosophers.
murderers' row,
Related formsself-mur·der·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for murderer
Word Origin and History for murderer
murderer
mid-14c., alteration of murtherer (c.1300), agent noun from murder (v.); in part from Old French mordrere, from Medieval Latin murdrarius, from Germanic. Old English words for this included morðorcwalu, morðorslaga, morðorwyrhta, literally "murder-wright." The original murderer's row was in New York City's Tombs prison; figurative use in baseball dates to 1858, though the quintessential one was the 1927 New York Yankees. Fem. form murderess attested from late 14c. Murderee (1920) never caught on.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper