Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Martyr

Mar′tyr (mär′tẽr), n. [AS., from L. martyr, Gr. μάρτυρ, μάρτυς, prop., a witness; cf. Skr. smṛ to remember, E. memory.]

1. One who, by his death, bears witness to the truth of the gospel; one who is put to death for his religion; as, Stephen was the first Christian martyr. Chaucer.

To be a martyr, signifies only to witness the truth of Christ; but the witnessing of the truth was then so generally attended with persecution, that martyrdom now signifies not only to witness, but to witness by death. South.

2. Hence, one who sacrifices his life, his station, or what is of great value to him, for the sake of principle, or to sustain a cause.

Then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, Thou fall'st a blessed martyr ! Shak.

Mar′tyr (mär′tẽr), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Martyred; p. pr. & vb. n. Martyring.] 1. To put to death for adhering to some belief, esp. Christianity; to sacrifice on account of faith or profession. Bp. Pearson.

2. To persecute; to torment; to torture. Chaucer.

The lovely Amoret, whose gentle heart Thou martyrest with sorrow and with smart. Spenser.

Racked with sciatics, martyred with the stone. Pope.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.