Defn: A tax or toll paid for building or repairing the walls of a fortified town.
MURAL Mu"ral, a. Etym: [F., fr. L. muralis, fr. murus wall. See Mure a wall.]
1. Of or pertaining to a wall; being on, or in, a wall; growing on, or against, a wall; as, a mural quadrant. "Mural breach." Milton. "Mural fruit." Evelyn.
2. Resembling a wall; perpendicular or steep; as, a mural precipice. Mural circle (Astron.), a graduated circle, in the plane of the meridian, attached permanently to a perpendicular wall; — used for measuring arcs of the meridian. See Circle, n., 3. — Mural crown (Rom. Antiq.), a golden crown, or circle of gold indented so as to resemble a battlement, bestowed on him who first mounted the wall of a besieged place, and there lodged a standard.
MURDER Mur"der, n. Etym: [OE. morder, morther, AS. moredhor, fr. moredh murder; akin to D. moord, OS. moredh, G., Dan., & Sw. mord, Icel. moredh, Goth. maúrþr, OSlav. mreti to die, Lith. mirti, W. marw dead, L. mors, mortis, death, mori, moriri, to die, Gr. broto`s (for mroto`s) mortal, 'a`mbrotos immortal, Skr. mrs to die, mrsta death. *105. Cf. Amaranth, Ambrosia, Mortal.]
Defn: 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.
MURDER
Mur"der, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Murdered; p. pr. & vb. n. Murdering.]
Etym: [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.