assassins

Noun

assassin (plural assassins)

1. Someone who intentionally kills a person, especially a professional who kills a public or political figure.
   • The hand that held the bond of so many jarring interests lay powerless beneath the pall. The perils of war had been about him, and the midnight assassin had watched his path; yet he died quietly in his bed.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 233
2. Any ruthless killer.
3. (capitalized, historical, usually) A member of the Nizari Ismaili Muslim community of the Alamut Period.
   • The Assassines, a nation depending of Phœnicia, are esteemed among the Mahometists of a soveraigne devotion and puritie of maners; they hold, that the readiest and shortest way to gaine Paradise, is to kill some one of a contrary religion[…].1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 29, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
4. (humorous) An associated prime of a module.

See all 5 meanings of assassin