Lynch
[lɪn(t)ʃ] or [lɪntʃ]
Definition
(verb.) kill without legal sanction; 'The blood-thirsty mob lynched the alleged killer of the child'.
Typed by Ferris--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To inflict punishment upon, especially death, without the forms of law, as when a mob captures and hangs a suspected person. See Lynch law.
Checked by Gregory
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [U. S.] Punish without trial, inflict summary punishment on.
Checked by Edmond
Definition
v.t. to judge and punish without the usual forms of law.—n. Lynch′-law (Amer.) a kind of summary justice exercised by the people.
Edited by Cheryl
Examples
- It was lynch law of a kind; but in view of the responsibility, this action of the conductor lay well within his rights and duties. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- It could lynch one as a moral monster, when as a matter of fact his ideals were commonplace; it could proclaim one a great benefactor when in truth he was a rather dull old gentleman. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- He does in wars, in racial and religious persecutions; he did in the Spain of the Inquisition; he does in the American lynching. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Editor: Rebekah