/ lɪntʃ; NAmE / verb
[ vn ] if a crowd of people lynch sb whom they consider guilty of a crime, they capture them, do not allow them to have a trial in court, and kill them illegally, usually by hanging
► lynch·ing noun [ C , U ]
••
WORD ORIGIN
mid 19th cent.: from Lynch's law , named after Capt. William Lynch , head of a self-constituted judicial tribunal in Virginia c. 1780.