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Webster 1913 Edition


Suicide

Su′i-cide

,
Noun.
[L.
sui
of one’s self (akin to
suus
one's own) +
caedere
to slay, to kill. Cf.
So
,
adv.
,
Homicide
.]
1.
The act of taking one's own life voluntary and intentionally; self-murder; specifically
(Law)
, the felonious killing of one's self; the deliberate and intentional destruction of one's own life by a person of years of discretion and of sound mind.
2.
One guilty of self-murder; a felo-de-se.
3.
Ruin of one's own interests.
“Intestine war, which may be justly called political suicide.”
V. Knox.

Webster 1828 Edition


Suicide

SU'ICIDE

,
Noun.
[L. suicidium; se and coedo, to slay.]
1.
Self-murder; the act of designedly destroying one's own life. To constitute suicide, the person must be of years of discretion and of sound mind.
2.
One guilty of self-murder; a felo de se.

Definition 2024


suicide

suicide

See also: suicidé and suïcide

English

Noun

suicide (usually uncountable, plural suicides)

  1. (uncountable) Intentional killing of oneself.
    • 1904, Harold MacGrath, The Man On The Box, ch. 22:
      The cowardice of suicide was abhorrent to him.
    • 2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian:
      Other global taboos, such as sex and suicide, manifest themselves widely online, with websites offering suicide guides and Hot XXX Action seconds away at the click of a button. The UK government will come under pressure to block access to pornographic websites this year when a committee of MPs publishes its report on protecting children online.
  2. (countable) A particular instance of a person intentionally killing himself or herself, or of multiple people doing so.
    • 1919, Edgar Wallace, The Secret House, ch. 14:
      There had been half a dozen mysterious suicides which had been investigated by Scotland Yard.
    • 1999, Philip H. Melling, Fundamentalism in America: Millennialism, Identity and Militant Religion, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-0978-9, page 192:
      In this way the Heaven’s Gate community were not only escaping the threat of ‘global destruction’, they were hurling themselves directly into ‘the lap of God’, using their suicide as a way of ‘bridging the chasm’ between an earthly world which had no future and ‘a thousand years of unmitigated peace’.
  3. (countable) A person who has intentionally killed him/herself.
    • 1915, W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, ch. 95:
      "I remember one suicide," she said to Philip, "who threw himself into the Thames."
  4. (figuratively) An action which could have the literal or figurative death of a person or organization as its consequence, although death is not the aim of the action.
    • 1959, Everett Dirksen, in the Congressional Record, Feb. 9, page 2100:
      [] I do not want the Congress or the country to commit fiscal suicide on the installment plan.
    • 2000, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, The Ice Limit (ISBN 0446525871):
      “Mr. Glinn,” said Britton, “it's suicide to take a huge ship like this past the Ice Limit. Especially in this weather.”
    • 2004, Robert D. Lock, Job Search: Career Planning Guide (ISBN 0534574211), page 24:
      [] it's suicide to change jobs in mid-career.
  5. (countable) A beverage combining all available flavors at a soda fountain.
    • 1994, Christopher Buckley, Cruising State: Growing Up in Southern California, University of Nevada Press, ISBN 0-87417-247-0, page 34:
      You could sit at a corner and order your Suicide, and one of two twin brothers who worked there would hold an old-fashioned soda glass, a heavy tall V-shaped one with a round foot at the bottom, and go down the line with one shot of everything—cherry, lemon, Coke, and chocolate syrups—before adding soda water.
    • 2000, Mark Pendergrast, For God, Country and Coca-Cola, Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-05468-4, page 15:
      Using Coca-Cola as a base, a suicide called for the addition of every other flavor available.
  6. A diabolo trick where one of the sticks is released and allowed to rotate 360° round the diabolo until it is caught by the hand that released it.
  7. (countable) A run comprising a series of sprints of increasing lengths, each followed immediately by a return to the start, with no pause between one sprint and the next.
    The coach makes us run suicides at the end of each basketball practice.
  8. A children's game of throwing a ball against a wall and at other players, who are eliminated by being struck.
  9. (attributive) pertaining to a suicide bombing; as suicide belt, suicide vest

Usage notes

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

Translations

Verb

suicide (third-person singular simple present suicides, present participle suiciding, simple past and past participle suicided)

  1. (intransitive) To kill oneself intentionally.
    • 1917, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams, ch. 11:
      "Her husband suicided three years ago. Just like a man!"
    • 1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin 2010, page 136:
      Seems a lady poet suicided at Verringer's ranch in Sepulveda canyon one time.
  2. (transitive) To kill (someone) and make their death appear to have been a suicide rather than a homicide (now especially as part of a conspiracy).
    • 1874, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, page 315:
      What genius but the Irish would have thought of a sow "gladiatoring her way" through the briars and furze; or of her pursuer calling out to her that if she didn't stop she would be "suicided by that holly-tree"?
    • 1898 October 29, in Punch, or the London charivari, page 196:
      Have bought The Shanghai Chopsticks. Proprietor at first refused to sell, but when I ordered the boiling oil he became more reasonable. Editor reports that circulation is not what it ought to be. [] Will publish proclaimation, "Any person found not in possession of The Shanghai Chopsticks (current number) will be suicided."
    • 2011, Tobias Jones, White Death (ISBN 0571275907), page 273:
      Even if he did get charged, he would be suicided long before he could involve one of the city's most important politicians in the scam.

Synonyms

See also


French

Pronunciation

Noun

suicide m (plural suicides)

  1. suicide

Derived terms

Verb

suicide

  1. inflection of suicider:
    1. first-person and third-person singular present indicative
    2. first-person and third-person singular present subjunctive
    3. second-person singular imperative

Italian

Adjective

suicide f pl

  1. feminine plural of suicida

Noun

suicide f pl

  1. plural of suicida

Anagrams


Norman

Etymology

Borrowing from English suicide.

Noun

suicide m (plural suicides)

  1. (Jersey) suicide

Portuguese

Verb

suicide

  1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of suicidar
  2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of suicidar
  3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of suicidar
  4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of suicidar

Spanish

Verb

suicide

  1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of suicidar.
  2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of suicidar.
  3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of suicidar.