† self-destroyingn.
Obsolete.
The action of destroying oneself, esp. by suicide; self-destruction.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > suicide > [noun]
self-violence1532
self-slaughter1533
self-murder1570
self-destruction1572
self-death1583
self-killinga1586
self-homicide?1608
self-destroying1612
self-blood1621
suicide1643
autoctony1652
selfcide1692
suicism1751
suicidism1756
felo-de-se1771
felony-de-se1822
suicidalism1833
1612 W. Sclater Sick Souls Salve 29 Lust, murther, selfe destroying.
1687 R. Boyle Martyrdom Theodora Pref. sig. a5 He speaks of the unlawfulness of Self-destroying.
1776 G. Campbell Philos. of Rhetoric I. xi. 313 Are not these..the various ways of self-destroying, to which, according to their various tastes, men are prompted by the same universal principle of self-hatred?
1892 W. Larminie Fand & Other Poems 116 Earth has forces deadly, Hence the plant of poison, Potent yet with virtue,—Strong for self-destroying.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
self-destroyingadj.
/ˌsɛlfdᵻˈstrɔɪɪŋ/, U.S. /ˌsɛlfdəˈstrɔɪɪŋ/ Bringing about one's own destruction or downfall; that destroys itself; self-destructive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [adjective] > self-destructive or destroyed
self-destroying1613
self-destroyed1637
self-destructive1641
suicidal1768
auto-destructive1895
self-destruct1955
self-destructing1962
1613 A. Nixon Straunge Foot-post sig. G3v Leaue of thy selfe-destroying ciuill warres, And intermedling with all others.
1645 S. Rutherford Tryal & Triumph of Faith 127 To kill high thoughts of a self-destroying sinner.
1713 M. Henry Serm. Ordination Mr. Atkinson 12 This perishing self-destroying People.
1777 Parl. Reg. 1775–80 VII. ii. 94 France must be as self-destroying as England, to make a treaty while you are giving her America at the expence of twelve millions a year.
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound iv. i. 136 With the force of self-destroying swiftness.
1856 Provinc. Freeman 25 Nov. Modern free society..is radically wrong and rotten. It is self-destroying, and can never exist happily and normally.
1906 Dublin Jrnl. Med. Sci. 122 254 The human body is a self-developing, a self-repairing, and a self-destroying machine.
1971 Sci. News 7 Aug. 92 Public indignation over litter and garbage has caused industry to ask chemists whether self-destroying, or quickly degradable, plastics might be devised.
2012 T. Reardon Winston Churchill & Mackenzie King 16 He was brought up in a privileged family, with a brilliant but self-destroying father.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1612
adj.1613