▪ I. massacre, n.
(ˈmæsəkə(r))
Also 6 massachre, -aquer, 7 mas(s)aker, massacker, -cher, massacry, 8 (9 illiterate) massacree.
[a. F. massacre masc., in OF. ma{cced}acre, machacre, macecle, mececle shambles, slaughter-house (whence maceclier, AF. macegrier butcher: see macegriefs), also, butchery, slaughter; in the latter sense latinized in the 13th c. mazacrium, masacrium.
Spenser stresses maˈssacre, Shakes. and Marlowe ˈmassacre. The origin of the OF. word is unknown; Diez suggested derivation from a Teut. source, comparing LG. matsken (18th c.) to hack to pieces, but this word is itself of Rom. etymology. The forms macecle synon. with L. macellum, and maceclier with macellarius, suggest the possibility of these being corrupted adoptions from monastic Latin.]
1. The unnecessary indiscriminate killing of human beings; a general slaughter, carnage, butchery; also occas. the wholesale killing of wild animals.
| 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. 718 There is no corner of this kingdome where the people..have not committed infinite and cruell massacres. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. v. i. 63, I must talke of Murthers, Rapes, and Massacres. 1590 Webbe Trav. (Arb.) 23 How the women of ye towne did plie themselues with their weapons, making a great massacre vpon our men. 1611 Bible 1 Macc. i. 24 Hauing made a great massacre. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia 143 They made a massacre of Deere and Hogges. 1655 Milton (title of Sonnet) On the late Massacher in Piemont. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 271/1 She went down into Egypt from Herods Bloody Massacry. 1774 Fletcher Hist. Ess. Wks. 1795 IV. 15 The horrible massacres of Catholics. 1843 Borrow Bible in Spain xxxvi, Plunder and massacre had been expected. 1897 Gladstone E. Crisis 4 They are treading on the burning cinders of the Armenian massacres. |
b. In appellations of certain historic massacres.
Massacre of St. Bartholomew (earlier often † M. of Paris): the massacre of the Huguenots of France on the 24th of August 1572. M. of Glencoe: the massacre of the Macdonalds of Glencoe on February 13th 1692 by their enemies the Campbells, acting under an authority obtained from William III. M. of the Innocents: see innocent B. 2.
| [c 1592 Marlowe (title) The Massacre at Paris.] 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 131, I wondred to see the Massacre of Paris painted vpon the wall. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1734) II. 156 The Massacre in Glencoe made still a great noise. Ibid. 157 The Report of the Massacre of Glencoe was made in full Parliament. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 394 A Venus, by Titian; the massacre of the Innocents, Susanna, and Galatea, by Lanfranchi. 1833 L. Ritchie Wand. by Loire 187 The massacre of Saint Bartholomew did not take place here [at Nantes]. |
c. fig.
| 1595 Spenser Amoretti x, See how the Tyrannesse doth ioy to see The huge massacres which her eyes do make. 1608 R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1842) 29 The maydes..finding such a masaker of their dairie,..thought a yeere's wages could not make amends. 1748 Johnson Van. Hum. Wishes 22 The knowing and the bold Fell in the gen'ral massacre of gold. |
† 2. A cruel or peculiarly atrocious murder. Obs.
| 1589 Greene Sp. Masquerado E 1 b, He..caused..some to be torne with horses, some to haue their handes cut off, and so many sundry Massaquers as greeueth any good minde to report. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iii. 2 Tyr. The tyrannous and bloodie Act is done, The most arch deed of pittious massacre That euer yet this land was guilty of. 1608 D. T[uvil] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 43 b, Nor was the massacre of this his warlike sonne the period of his furie. |
3. Her. ‘A pair of antlers or attires attached to a piece of the skull, used as a bearing’ (Cent. Dict. 1890). [Fr. massacre.]
| [1722 Nisbet Syst. Heraldry I. 338 The French use the Word Massacree, for a Head Caboched.] |
Add: 4. In weakened sense (esp. in Sport): an occasion or event in which one side is defeated comprehensivey; a complete and decisive defeat.
| 1940 Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) 9 Dec. c3/1 The boys and girls at the Washington massacre yesterday saw what will probably turn out to be the finest old feud in football history. 1959 Charlotte (N. Carolina) Observer 27 Nov. d1/2 It was the worst defeat in Duke's storied football history... Some 30,000 Duke Stadium fans and a nation-wide television audience sat in on the massacre. 1974 Times 20 Apr. 11/1 The crucial [bridge] match was expected to be close... Within a few hours the Americans had suffered the biggest massacre since Pearl Harbour. 1991 Athlon's Eastern Football 1991 Ann. 60/2 Nance let Klingler's numbers speak for themselves, countering the backlash from that Eastern Washington massacre by pointing out that Klingler's statistics were better than any other Heisman-winning quarterback. |
▪ II. massacre, v.
(ˈmæsəkə(r))
Also 7 masakre, massacar, massacher, 8 (9 illiterate) massacree, 9 Sc. mashacker.
[a. F. massacrer, f. massacre: see prec.]
1. trans. To kill indiscriminately (a number of human beings, or occas. animals); to make a general slaughter or carnage of. Also occas. absol.
| 1581 Savile Tacitus' Hist. (1612) 180 The cohort was massacred by the fraude of the Agrippinenses. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 450. c 1592 Marlowe Massacre Paris i. v, These are the Guisians, That seeke to massacre our guiltles liues. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine viii. 39 When men of warre run massacaring vp and down in euery corner of a city. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. vi. Wks. 1851 V. 245 He caus'd the Danes all over England..in one day perfidiously to be massacherd, both Men, Women, and Childern. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 502 To bring over a French army and to massacre all the English. 1727 C. Colden Hist. Five Ind. Nations 83 Your Warriors..have Massacreed Men, Women and Children. 1809 Scott Poacher 102 Grouse or partridge massacred in March. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvi. III. 650 They were..always forming plans for massacring their tyrants. |
| fig. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven 330 Satan doth continually..massacre innumerable soules. |
2. To murder cruelly or violently. † Also refl. to lay violent hands upon oneself.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 500 Harmodius and Aristogiton, massacring the tyrant Pisistratus. 1606 ― Sueton. Annot. 8 Caesar..was masakred with 23. wounds. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iv. vi. (1651) 160 Two brothers of Lovain..in a discontented humour massacred themselves. 1661 Virginia Stat. (1823) II. 24 That execrable power that soe bloodyly massacred the late king Charles the first. 1834 James J. Marston Hall viii, That he would be massacred the moment he showed his face amongst the infuriated mob. 1881 Shorthouse J. Inglesant II. xviii, But that his coach was resolutely defended..he would have been massacred by the furious mob. |
| fig. 1880 Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) II. 280, I heard William Tell entirely massacred at the great opera house. |
† 3. To mutilate, mangle. Obs.
| 1589 Hay any Work 19 That the magistrate may lawfully cut off the members of Christ from his body, and so may lawfully massacre the body. 1651 tr. De-las-Coveras' Don Fenise 303 The shame of seeing my face massacred by his rash hands. [1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xvii, Her throat's sair misguggled and mashackered.] |
Hence ˈmassacred, ˈmassacring ppl. adjs.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. iii. 35 And Bangor with massacred Martyrs fill. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 10/2 The fracture is soe greate, with such a huge quantitye of massacred and crushed bones. 1738 Neal Hist. Purit. IV. 561 Imagining the massacring knife to be at their throats. |
Add: 4. In weakened sense (esp. in Sport): to defeat decisively.
| 1940 Washington Post 9 Dec. II. 19/2 The Chicago Bears massacred the Washington Redskins, 73–0, yesterday which more than evens up that little Custer incident. 1976 Scotsman 27 Dec. 10/8 Ipswich..should massacre Norwich on Wednesday at home in the East Anglian derby. 1988 Financial Times 11 June (Weekend Suppl.) p. xxiv/6 Last time the West Indies were here they massacred England. |