Specifically and literally, the murder of a King. To loyal subjects under a benign monarchy, the most horrendous crime imaginable. Shakespeare usually had his kings murdered off-stage so as not to give any ideas to the murderous peasants in his audience.

Reg"i*cide (r?j"?*s?d), n. [F. r'egicide; L. rex, regis, a king + caedere to kill. Cf. Homicide.]

1.

One who kills or who murders a king; specifically Eng.Hist., one of the judges who condemned Charles I. to death.

2.

The killing or the murder of a king.

 

© Webster 1913.

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