percutiō

Interficere and perimere are the most general expressions for putting to death, in whatever manner, and from whatever motive, fame, veneno, suspendio, ferro, suppliciis, dolo, like κτείνειν; but interficere as a usual, perimere as an old, forcible, poetical expression. Interimere involves the accessory notion of privacy, as to remove out of the way; ἀναιρεῖν; necare, that of injustice, or, at least, cruelty, to murder, φονεύειν. Cic. Tusc. v. 20. Dionysius alterum jussit interfici, quia viam demonstravisset interimendi sui. Curt. ix. 7, 8. Boxum protinus placuit interfici; Biconem etiam per cruciatus necari. 2. Occidere, jugulare, trucidare, obtruncare, percutere, denote a sanguinary death-blow; occidere means by cutting down, especially the business of the soldier in honorable open battle; jugulare, by cutting the throat or neck, or rather by a skilfully-directed thrust into the collar-bone, especially the business of the bandit, after the pattern of the gladiator, like σφᾶξαι; obtruncare means to butcher, massacre, and cut to pieces, after the manner of the awkward murderer; trucidare, to slaughter as one would a steer, after the manner of the blood-thirsty miscreant, who, without meeting with resistance, plays the hero on the defenceless; percutere, to execute, as a mere mechanical act, after the manner of the headsman, or other executioner of a sentence of condemnation, or, at least, of a death-warrant. Senec. Contr. iii. 21. Nec dominum occidit, nec domino venenum dedit. Hor. Ep. i. 2. Ut jugulent hominem, surgunt de nocte latrones. Sallust. Fr. Cæteri vice pecorum obtruncantur; so that you may see a mangled mass of limbs, as in the heap of slain in a battle. Tac. Hist. . . . Juberet interfici; offerre se corpora iræ; trucidaret. Cic. Cat. iv. 6. and Rosc. Am. 34. Cujus consilio occisus sit invenio; cujus manu percussus sit non invenio. (iii. 181.)