Assassin

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Assassin \As*sas"sin\, n. [F. (cf. It. assassino), fr. Ar.
     `hashishin one who has drunk of the hashish. Under its
     influence the Assassins of the East, followers of the Shaikh
     al-Jabal (Old Man of the Mountain), were said to commit the
     murders required by their chief.]
     One who kills, or attempts to kill, by surprise or secret


     assault; one who treacherously murders any one unprepared for
     defense.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Assassin \As*sas"sin\, v. t.
     To assassinate. [Obs.] --Stillingfleet.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  assassin
       n 1: a murderer (especially one who kills a prominent political
            figure) who kills by a treacherous surprise attack and
            often is hired to do the deed; "his assassins were
            hunted down like animals"; "assassinators of kings and
            emperors" [syn: {assassinator}, {bravo}]
       2: a member of a secret order of Muslims (founded in the 12th
          century) who terroriszed and killed Christian Crusaders

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  45 Moby Thesaurus words for "assassin":
     Cain, alarmist, apache, assassinator, bloodletter, bloodshedder,
     bomber, bravo, burker, butcher, button man, cannibal, cutthroat,
     desperado, eradicator, executioner, exterminator, garroter,
     gorilla, gun, gunman, gunsel, hatchet man, head-hunter, hit man,
     homicidal maniac, homicide, killer, man-eater, man-killer,
     manslayer, massacrer, matador, murderer, pesticide, poison,
     poisoner, scaremonger, slaughterer, slayer, strangler, terrorist,
     thug, torpedo, trigger man
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  ASSASSIN, crim, law. An assassin is one who attacks another either
  traitorously, or with the advantage of arms or place) or of a number of
  persons who support him, and kills his victim. This being done with malice,
  aforethought, is murder. The term assassin is but little used in the common
  law, it is borrowed from the civil law.