spadassinicide
English
WOTD – 9 November 2008
Etymology
From spadassin + -icide, from Italian spadaccino (“swordsman”).
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /ˌspɑd.əˈsɪ.nɪ.seɪd/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file)
Noun
spadassinicide (plural spadassinicides)
- (rare) The act of coaxing someone, usually through insult, into initiating a swordsman's duel, and subsequently killing that person with superior skill so as to commit legal murder.
- (rare) One who performs such an act.
- 1921, Rafael Sabatini, “Chapter VI”, in Scaramouche, book III:
- Challenges are flying right and left between these bully-swordsmen, these spadassinicides, and poor devils of the robe who have never learnt to fence with anything but a quill.
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