Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HOM'I-CIDE, n. [Fr. from L. homicidium; homo, man, and cædo, to strike, to kill.]

1. The killing of one man or human being by another. Homicide is of three kinds, justifiable, excusable, and felonious; justifiable, when it proceeds from unavoidable necessity, without an intention to kill, and without negligence; excusable, when it happens from misadventure, or in self-defense; felonious, when it proceeds from malice, or is done in the prosecution of some unlawful act, or in a sudden passion. Homicide committed with premeditated malice, is murder. Suicide also, or self-murder, is felonious homicide. Homicide comprehends murder and manslaughter. Blackstone.
2. A person who kills another; a manslayer. Dryden.