Massacre

4 definitions found

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

  Massacre \Mas"sa*cre\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Massacred}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Massacring}.] [Cf. F. massacrer. See {Massacre}, n.]
     To kill in considerable numbers where much resistance can not
     be made; to kill with indiscriminate violence, without
     necessity, and contrary to the usages of nations; to butcher;
     to slaughter; -- limited to the killing of human beings.


     [1913 Webster]
  
           If James should be pleased to massacre them all, as
           Maximian had massacred the Theban legion. --Macaulay.
     [1913 Webster]

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

  Massacre \Mas"sa*cre\, n. [F., fr. LL. mazacrium; cf. Prov. G.
     metzgern, metzgen, to kill cattle, G. metzger a butcher, and
     LG. matsken to cut, hew, OHG. meizan to cut, Goth.
     m['a]itan.]
     1. The killing of a considerable number of human beings under
        circumstances of atrocity or cruelty, or contrary to the
        usages of civilized people; as, the massacre on St.
        Bartholomew's Day; the St. Valentine's Day massacre; the
        Amritsar massacre; the Wounded Knee massacre.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     2. Murder. [Obs.] --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: {Massacre}, {Butchery}, {Carnage}.
  
     Usage: Massacre denotes the promiscuous slaughter of many who
            can not make resistance, or much resistance. Butchery
            refers to cold-blooded cruelty in the killing of men
            as if they were brute beasts. Carnage points to
            slaughter as producing the heaped-up bodies of the
            slain.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  I'll find a day to massacre them all,
                  And raze their faction and their family. --Shak.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
                  Brhold this pattern of thy butcheries. --Shak.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  Such a scent I draw
                  Of carnage, prey innumerable!     --Milton.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  massacre
       n : the savage and excessive killing of many people [syn: {slaughter},
            {mass murder}, {carnage}, {butchery}]
       v : kill a large number of people indiscriminately; "The Hutus
           massacred the Tutsis in Rwanda" [syn: {slaughter}, {mow
           down}]

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

  66 Moby Thesaurus words for "massacre":
     annihilate, annihilating, annihilation, assassination, assault,
     attack, battering, bloodbath, bloodshed, bump off, butcher,
     butchering, butchery, carnage, commit carnage, commit genocide,
     commit mass murder, decimate, decimation, depopulate, destroy,
     disorderliness, eliminate, eradicate, execute, execution,
     exterminate, extermination, final solution, forcible seizure,
     genocide, holocaust, kill, killing, laying waste, liquidate,
     liquidation, looting, mass destruction, mass murder, mow down,
     murder, murder wholesale, murdering, obliterate, obstreperousness,
     onslaught, pillaging, pogrom, race extermination, race-murder,
     rape, riot, rioting, sacking, saturnalia of blood, slaughter,
     slaughtering, slay, slay en masse, slaying, sowing with salt,
     unruliness, violation, wholesale murder, wipe out