Related Searches

scream bloody murder

[mur-der]

mur·der

[mur-der]
noun
1.
Law. the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during the commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson (first-degree murder), and murder by intent but without deliberation or premeditation (second-degree murder).
2.
Slang. something extremely difficult or perilous: That final exam was murder!
3.
a group or flock of crows.
verb (used with object)
4.
Law. to kill by an act constituting murder.
5.
to kill or slaughter inhumanly or barbarously.
6.
to spoil or mar by bad performance, representation, pronunciation, etc.: The tenor murdered the aria.

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

Scream bloody murder is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
verb (used without object)
7.
to commit murder.
8.
get away with murder, Informal. to engage in a deplorable activity without incurring harm or punishment: The new baby-sitter lets the kids get away with murder.
9.
murder will out, a secret will eventually be exposed.
10.
yell/scream bloody murder,
a.
to scream loudly in pain, fear, etc.
b.
to protest loudly and angrily: If I don't get a good raise I'm going to yell bloody murder.

Origin:
1300–50; Middle English mo(u)rdre, murder, variant (influenced by Old French murdre < Germanic ) of murthre murther

self-mur·der, noun
self-mur·dered, adjective

homicide, kill, manslaughter, murder (see synonym note at kill1).


10. See kill1.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To scream bloody murder
Slang Dictionary

scream bloody murder definition


  1. tv.
    to scream very loudly; to complain or protest loudly. : She screams bloody murder every time I get near her.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

scream bloody murder

Angrily protest as loudly as possible, as in When Jimmy took her teddy bear, Lauren screamed bloody murder, or Residents are screaming bloody murder about the increase in property taxes. The scream here may be either literal (as in the first example) or figurative, which is also true of invoking murder as though one were in danger of being killed. Versions of this term, such as cry murder, date from the 1400s.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT