▪ I. manslaughter, n.
(ˈmænslɔːtə(r))
Forms: see slaughter n. Also 4 mans-slaghter, 4–5 manes-slaghter.
[f. man n.1 + slaughter.]
1. † a. The killing of a human being by a human being; homicide; chiefly criminal homicide, esp. murder. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 25457 O mans-slaghter had i na mak. c 1374 Chaucer Former Age 64 In owre dayes nis but covetyse..Poyson and manslawhtre. c 1386 ― Pars. T. ¶491 Spiritueel manslaughtere is in vj. thynges. a 1400 Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. 25 Þer es manes-slaghter of hand, of tunge, of herte. 1462 Paston Lett. II. 83, I herd nevyr sey of so myche robry and manslawter in thys contre as is now within a lytyll tyme. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. ii. vii. (1588) 223 Using Manslaughter, as a sort of Felonie that comprehendeth under it all maner of felonious Homicide whatsoeuer. 1601–2 W. Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parall. 92 Manslaughter se defendendo is, where [etc.]. 1611 Bible 2 Esdras i. 26 Your feete are swift to commit manslaughter. |
b. The ‘slaughtering’ of human beings; destruction of human life.
| c 1450 Merlin 244 Ther was a stronge bataile and grete man-slaughter on both sithes. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 352/2 What distruccion and man slaughter they haue caused. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 689 To overcome in Battel,..and bring home spoils with infinite Man-slaughter. 1880 T. Hodgkin Italy & Inv. I. i. Introd. 14 It [sc. an army] soon ceases to be an efficient instrument even for its own purpose of scientific manslaughter. 1898 Gertrude Tuckwell in 19th Cent. Aug. 253 (art.) Commercial manslaughter. |
2. Law. A species of criminal homicide of a lower degree of criminality than murder; now defined as criminal homicide without malice aforethought.
In etymological meaning there is no difference between manslaughter and homicide (L. homicidium, F. homicide, both used in early Eng. law-books). In its modern technical use, manslaughter corresponds generally to the ‘simple homicide’ of early Law French and Law Latin writers, which was used in contradistinction to ‘murder’ (though the distinction is not identical with the modern one), and ordinarily implied criminality.
According to the modern interpretation, manslaughter is committed when one person causes the death of another either intentionally in the heat of passion under certain kinds of provocation, or unintentionally by culpable negligence or as a consequence of some unlawful act.
In Scotland the term corresponding to manslaughter is ‘culpable homicide’.
| 1447 Rolls of Parlt. V. 137/2 Robberies, Murthers, mayehemes and manslaut'. 1538 Starkey England ii. iii. 197 Robbery..wyth murdur and mansloughtur. 1601–2 W. Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parall. 90 You seeme under your first member, which is the wilful killing of a man of malice forethought, to comprehend manslaughter, which is done in the heate and furie of anger and sodaine falling out. 1625 Hart Anat. Ur. ii. xi. 122, I cannot see any iust cause why it should not bee pronounced guiltie of man-slaughter at the least, if not of murther. a 1732 Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 21 Such as men-slaughter, purely casual, as when one hewing wood, kills his neighbour with the head of the ax slipping from the helve. 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. 190 In this there are also degrees of guilt, which divide the offence into man⁓slaughter, and murder. 1847 James Convict xx, The foreman returned a verdict of ‘Manslaughter’ against Edward Dudley. 1898 Daily News 17 Jan. 6/6 The young man..who was convicted on Friday of manslaughter of a woman. |
Hence manslaughterous a. [-ous], of the nature of manslaughter, inclined for manslaughter.
| 1883 Pall Mall G. 6 Jan. 5 A murderous or even a manslaughterous part. 1898 N. & Q. 9th Ser. I. 183/1 A description which makes one feel almost manslaughterous. |
▪ II. manslaughter, v. colloq.
(ˈmænslɔːtə(r))
[f. the n.]
trans. To kill (a person) without malice aforethought.
| 1920 R. Macaulay Potterism III. ii. 133, I had left the house morally certain that Arthur Gideon had murdered (or anyhow manslaughtered) Oliver Hobart. 1922 A. A. Milne Red House Mystery ix. 81 ‘Murdered him?’ ‘Well, manslaughtered him, anyway.’ |