Murder, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Murdered; p. pr. & vb. n. Murdering.]
Etymology: [OE. mortheren, murtheren, AS. myr; akin to OHG. murdiren, Goth. maúr. See Murder, n.]
1. To kill with premediated malice; to kill (a human being) willfully, deliberately, and unlawfully. See Murder, n.
2. To destroy; to put an end to. [Canst thou] murder thy breath in middle of a word Shak.
3. To mutilate, spoil, or deform, as if with malice or cruelty; to mangle; as, to murder the king's English.
Syn. -- To kill; assassinate; slay. See Kill.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Murder, n.
The offense of killing a human being with malice prepense or aforethought, express or implied; intentional and unlawful homicide. "Mordre will out." Chaucer. The killing of their children had, in the account of God, the guilt of murder, as the offering them to idols had the guilt of idolatry. Locke. Slaughter grows murder when it goes too far. Dryden.
Note: Murder in the second degree, in most jurisdictions, is a malicious homicide committed without a specific intention to take life. Wharton.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for murder; he lists it under kill.
Where he writes about it:
Assassinate, execute, murder, apply only to the taking of human life; to murder is to kill with premeditation and malicious intent; to execute is to kill in fulfilment of a legal sentence; to assassinate is to kill by assault; this word is chiefly applied to the killing of public or eminent persons through alleged political motives, whether secretly or openly. — from kill