vendetta
(vɛnˈdɛtə)
[a. It. vendetta:—L. vindicta vengeance. Cf. vindictive a.]
1. A family blood-feud, usually of a hereditary character, as customary among the inhabitants of Corsica and parts of Italy.
| 1855 Edinb. Rev. CI. 456 Paoli..succeeded in making the vendetta disgraceful. 1860 All Year Round No. 63. 299/2 The deadly ‘vendetta’..which has sacrificed whole families, and once depopulated an entire village for one girl. 1870 O. W. Holmes Old Vol. of Life (1891) 291, I came away thinking I had discovered a new national custom, as peculiar..as the Corsican vendetta. |
2. A similar blood-feud, or prosecution of private revenge, in other communities.
| 1861 Pearson Early & Mid. Ages vii. 66 But there are no traces [among the early Anglo-Saxons] of that vendetta, which was the sombre glory of the Welsh. 1891 Spectator 7 Mar., The Papuan..would eat everybody, but that he fears arousing endless vendettas. |
| attrib. 1897 Humanitarian X. 209 The vendetta spirit is hereditary. |
Hence
venˈdettist, one who takes part in, or carries on, a vendetta.
| 1904 Times 2 June 10/3 We..perceive that they are blood-thirsty vendettists. |