assassin
/əˈsæsɪn/ noun, verb
Forms assassins assassining assassined
- noun Someone who intentionally kills a person, especially a professional who kills a public or political figure.
- noun Any ruthless killer.
- noun (historical, usually capitalized) A member of the Nizari Ismaili Muslim community of the Alamut Period.
- noun (algebra, somewhat humorous) An associated prime of a module.
- verb (nonstandard) To assassinate.
Synonyms
Etymology
From either French assassin or Italian assassino, from Arabic أَسَاسِيِّين (ʔasāsiyyīn, “people who are faithful to the foundation [of the faith]”) and the folkloric etymology Arabic حَشَّاشِين (ḥaššāšīn, “hashish users; low-lives”).
The mathematical sense was introduced by Bourbaki, playing on the notation operatorname Ass(M) and the fact that an associated prime is the annihilator of an element, and so is said to kill that element.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One who kills, or attempts to kill, by surprise or secret assault; one who treacherously murders any one unprepared for defense.
- verb To assassinate. [Obs.] Stillingfleet.
Etymology [F. (cf. It. assassino), fr. Ar. one who has drunk of the hashish. Under its influence the Assassins of the East, followers of the Shaikh al-Jabal (Old Man of the Mountain), were said to commit the murders required by their chief.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “assassin”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details