From: scobbie@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Jim Scobbie)
Subject: for xcz13@isuvax.iastate.edu the meaning of "murder"
Organization: Stanford University CSLI
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 18:38:39 GMT

In <1992Apr13.174731.706@news.iastate.edu> xcz13@isuvax.iastate.edu writes:

>I define merder as neadlessly taking the life of a member of ones own
>speaches. Tiger kills Tiger , Human kills Human, Lion kills lion- these are in
>order of lest likly--most likly.

>ELF-KIN	15 berd	  
>rong key agen 15 birds in 5 fir trees...... orks from the Hobbit

I'm sorry for your gommy newsfeed - all those "^H"! What is the big
problem about people using words' meanings for rhetorical purposes?
Murder/baby abort/foetus. To understand the arguments means to be
oblivious to such sleight of hand. And for your information, here is
what a dictionary says for murder and kill.  I've omitted all but
the meanings/header.
===================================================================
(webster)

1 mur.der \'m<e>rd-<e>r\ n (bef. 12c) [...]
    1: the crime of unlawfully killing a person esp. with malice aforethought
    2a: something very difficult or dangerous <the traffic was murder> 
    
    2b: something outrageous or blameworthy <getting away with murder> 
    
2 murder vb mur.dered; mur.der.ing \'m<e>rd-(<e>-)ri<nj>\ (13c) vt
    1: to kill (a human being) unlawfully and with premeditated malice
    2: to slaughter wantonly: SLAY
    3a: to put an end to
    3b: TEASE, TORMENT
    3c: MUTILATE, MANGLE <murders French> 
    3d: to defeat badly  murder vi
    :to commit murder 
syn see KILL

1 kill \'kil\ vb (14c) [...]
    1a: to deprive of life
    1b1: to slaughter (as a hog) for food
    1b2: to convert a food animal into (as pork) by slaughtering
    2a: to put an end to <kill competition> 
    2b: DEFEAT, VETO
    2c: to mark for omission; also: DELETE
    3a: to destroy the vital or essential quality of <killed the pain with 
    drugs> 
    3b: to cause to stop <kill the motor> 
    3c: to check the flow of current through
    4: to make a markedly favorable impression on <she killed the audience> 
    5: to cause to elapse <kill time> 
    6a: to cause extreme pain to
    6b: to tire almost to the point of collapse
    7: to hit (a ball) so hard in a racket game that a return is impossible
    8: to consume (as a drink) totally  
kill vi
    :to deprive one of life 

syn KILL, SLAY, MURDER, ASSASSINATE, DISPATCH, EXECUTE mean to deprive 
of life. KILL merely states the fact of death caused by an agency in any 
manner; SLAY is a chiefly literary term implying deliberateness and violence 
but not necessarily motive; MURDER specif. implies stealth and motive and 
premeditation and therefore full moral responsibility; ASSASSINATE applies 
to deliberate killing openly or secretly often for political motives; DISPATCH 
stresses quickness and directness in putting to death; EXECUTE stresses 
putting to death as a legal penalty.

2 kill n (1852)
    1: an act or instance of killing
    2: something killed: as
    2a1: an animal shot in a hunt
    2a2: animals killed in a hunt, season, or particular period of time
    2b: an enemy airplane, submarine, or ship destroyed by military action
    2c: a return shot in a racket game that is too hard for an opponent 
    to handle

3 kill n, often cap (1669)
 [D kil]
    :CHANNEL, CREEK -- used chiefly in place names in Delaware, Pennsylvania, 
    and New York



-- 
James M. Scobbie: Dept of Linguistics, Stanford University, CA 94305-2150, USA
                  scobbie@csli.stanford.edu