What Does It Mean To Kill Someone "In Cold Blood"?

[Knight Templar]

I've heard this term for years but I've never quite understood the meaning of it even after looking it up. In all the old westerns "in cold blood" was often the term used when referring to shooting someone in the back.

But even this wasn't used consistently as people killed by gunshots to the front were sometimes referred to as "killed in cold blood".

I got to thinking of it because some called the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida to be "in cold blood".

 

[Vulcan Princess]

Colloquially speaking, it's the opposite of "in the heat of passion" or "in the heat of the moment". For example, if there's a struggle going on, or if someone is provoked, etc., that would be a heat type situation. If someone is either unprovoked or is calculating or deliberate about it, that would be cold blood.

(I won't bore you with the lengthy legal history and distinctions. I've been told that my bar-exam-studying-induced ramblings are unwelcome to the average person. )

 

[Christopher]

Colloquially speaking, it's the opposite of "in the heat of passion" or "in the heat of the moment". For example, if there's a struggle going on, or if someone is provoked, etc., that would be a heat type situation. If someone is either unprovoked or is calculating or deliberate about it, that would be cold blood.

I think it can also have the connotation of killing without qualms or remorse, without any mercy or empathy. In general usage, to be "cold-blooded" is to be passionless, uncaring. McCoy called Spock cold-blooded from time to time.

 

[R. Star]

I've heard this term for years but I've never quite understood the meaning of it even after looking it up. In all the old westerns "in cold blood" was often the term used when referring to shooting someone in the back.

But even this wasn't used consistently as people killed by gunshots to the front were sometimes referred to as "killed in cold blood".

I got to thinking of it because some called the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida to be "in cold blood".

Really, now it's just a term to make it sound worse. As if killing someone wasn't bad enough. You'll often here the media spouting out "they shot him execution style." As opposed to shooting someone non-execution style?

 

[Christopher]

Really, now it's just a term to make it sound worse. As if killing someone wasn't bad enough. You'll often here the media spouting out "they shot him execution style." As opposed to shooting someone non-execution style?

An execution-style shooting has a specific meaning, at least so I gather from cop shows. It refers to the traditional way that mobsters and assassins execute people, a calculated, point-blank headshot that's quick and certain, as opposed to just shooting at someone from a distance and hitting them wherever.

Remember, the word "execute" doesn't literally mean "kill," it means "carry out, fulfill." "Executing" in this sense is shorthand for "executing a death sentence" -- or in the case of mobsters and assassins, executing a contract or order to kill someone. So execution refers to a formalized, ritualized, calculated killing done under orders or under contract, as opposed to killing someone by accident or as a crime of passion or in self-defense.

 

[gturner]

Actually, it means to kill some one with a Varan-T disruptor, which freezes the blood as it tears tissues apart from the inside out, as opposed to killing someone with a phaser which adds tremendous heat.

 

[Misfit Toy]

It's how iguanas kill people.

 

[Knight Templar]

I always took killing someone "execution style" to mean to "shoot someone in the base of the back of the skull while the victim is kneeling".

The base of the skull shot meant to severe the brainstem and thus ensure that death occurs from a single, every efficient gunshot.

The victim kneeling in order that they are incapable of fleeing or fighting back at the last moment and so there body doesn't fall just anywhere awkwardly.

 

[iguana_tonante]

It's how iguanas kill people.

That's how we roll.

 

[PsychoPere]

(I won't bore you with the lengthy legal history and distinctions. I've been told that my bar-exam-studying-induced ramblings are unwelcome to the average person. )

Actually, if you can keep it understandable for the non-legally-educated, I'd be curious enough to read an explanation, if you wanted to take the time.

 

[Kemaiku]

In general usage, to be "cold-blooded" is to be passionless, uncaring. McCoy called Spock cold-blooded from time to time.

He also calls it "ice water" in "The Paradise Syndrome", so there could be more to it than just colloquial use.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Thanks, guys. Now I have ads for firearms training showing up on the right.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I'd agree with Christopher. I imagine it came about during days of the old west where many killings took place, with many criminals being ruthless, that one kill was simply just another and without remorse.

 

[shivkala]

^
I have home alarm systems, self-defense, and background check/public records search/credit score ads.

I've always taken, "in cold blood," to mean it was planned, ruthless, and without giving the victim a chance to defend themselves.

For what it's worth, while "executioner style" does bring to mind the victim kneeling and being shot in the back of the head/neck, it also implies to me that they know it's coming and it's in return for something they had done. Which is odd, because it also implies an execution, in which I picture, at least an execution by firing squad, the victim is standing, facing the executioner(s), blindfolded, and, in true cliche fashion, with a cigarette in their mouths. In both cases, the victim knows it's coming, but is unable to see exactly when. However, the cliche version has them standing and facing the gun(s), whereas the phrase seems to summon images of them kneeling and the shooter(s) behind them.

 

[Knight Templar]

Well, in some firing squad executions the condemned man was given a hankerchief or other colored rag and when he dropped it the squad fired.

 

[Christopher]

In general usage, to be "cold-blooded" is to be passionless, uncaring. McCoy called Spock cold-blooded from time to time.

He also calls it "ice water" in "The Paradise Syndrome", so there could be more to it than just colloquial use.

Hmm, maybe. The Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual did state (unofficially) that Vulcan body temperature is only 91 degrees Fahrenheit. But I've always gotten the impression that Vulcans had hotter body temperature than humans, though I can't cite a reference for that offhand.

Yeah, I'd agree with Christopher. I imagine it came about during days of the old west where many killings took place, with many criminals being ruthless, that one kill was simply just another and without remorse.

Actually that's a myth invented by Westerns. In reality, the homicide rate in an "Old West" town or city was relatively low, only a handful per year. But "cold-blooded," ruthless killers are a staple of adventure fiction of all types, so they were abundant in the Western movies and TV shows that created our cultural myth of the "Old West."

For what it's worth, while "executioner style" does bring to mind the victim kneeling and being shot in the back of the head/neck, it also implies to me that they know it's coming and it's in return for something they had done. Which is odd, because it also implies an execution, in which I picture, at least an execution by firing squad, the victim is standing, facing the executioner(s), blindfolded, and, in true cliche fashion, with a cigarette in their mouths. In both cases, the victim knows it's coming, but is unable to see exactly when. However, the cliche version has them standing and facing the gun(s), whereas the phrase seems to summon images of them kneeling and the shooter(s) behind them.

As I said, I think that's because it's referring to the style of execution employed by mob hitmen. Organized crime has its own rules and rituals for these things. (Although I wouldn't be surprised if some of our perception of that was also a creation of popular fiction.)

 

[stj]

The phrase comes from times when medicine/psychology held to the humors as causes of health/illness/temperament. Hot blood meant rash, hasty, prone to anger, impulsive, quick, passionate, etc. Cold blooded, then meant the opposite. In the context of murder, "in cold blood" means not commited on impulse in a fit of rage. In cold blood does not necessarily mean premeditated, but premeditated almost invariably implies cold blooded. The humors arranged the basic quality of hot/cold and wet/dry in a patter analogous to earth/air/fire/water but I've forgotten the details.

 

[MacLeod]

I'd go with what has already been mentoned.

Killing in cold blood generally implies a cold logical approach. It is planned and dilberate.

As opposed to Killing in self defence/heat of the moment, where the act of killing wasn't planned.

The former would no doubt get you a murder charge the later a manslaughter charge. (NB: Actually charge might vary from country to country)

 

[gturner]

I think the phrase dates back at least to about 1600, since Shakespeare used "cold-blooded" in King John, Act III, scene I, "cold in blood" in Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, scene 5, "cold blood" in King Henry VI, Part III, Act I, scene 1 and Timons of Athens, Act III, scene 5.

The last goes:

As you are great, be pitifully good:
Who cannot condemn rashness in cold blood?
To kill, I grant, is sin's extremest gust;
But, in defence, by mercy, 'tis most just.
To be in anger is impiety;
But who is man that is not angry?
Weigh but the crime with this.

"Cold-blooded" is attributed to him, as is "assassinate".

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I've heard this term for years but I've never quite understood the meaning of it even after looking it up. In all the old westerns "in cold blood" was often the term used when referring to shooting someone in the back.

But even this wasn't used consistently as people killed by gunshots to the front were sometimes referred to as "killed in cold blood".

I got to thinking of it because some called the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida to be "in cold blood".

It means with premeditation and in the absence of provocation or anger. What would qualify as murder one as opposed to voluntary manslaughter. Essentially, it's a calculated act as opposed to a rash act.

In other words, I agree with Vulcan Princess.