Yell of Triumph, a painting by Alfred Jacob Miller depicting Native American hunters gathering around a mortally wounded buffalo, and engaging in a victory shout before administering their『coup de grâce』to the animal
Acoup de grâce (/ˌkuːdəˈɡrɑːs/; French:[kudəɡʁɑs]ⓘ 'blow of mercy') is a death blow to end the suffering of a severely wounded person or animal.[1][2] It may be a mercy killingofmortally wounded civilians or soldiers, friends or enemies, with or without the sufferer's consent. The meaning has extended to refer to the final event that causes a figurative death.[2]
Today, a coup de grâce for incapacitated soldiers would be a war crime: the laws of war mandate caring for the incapacitated and prohibit mercy killing.[3]
^Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries, eds. The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005. ISBN978-0618604999 p. 119.
^ abCharles Harrington Elster. The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations: The Complete Opinionated Guide for the Careful Speaker. 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, 2006. ISBN978-0618423156 pp. 110–111.
The dictionary definition of coup de grâce at Wiktionary
