have mercy

English

Verb

have mercy (third-person singular simple present has mercy, present participle having mercy, simple past and past participle had mercy)

1. (usually in the imperative) To show mercy or compassion; to stop inflicting punishment or a barrage.

   Synonym: spare

   • 1844 (date written), Charles Dickens, “Fourth Quarter”, in The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year out and a New Year in, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1845, →OCLC, page 165:

     "I have learnt it!" cried the old man. "Oh, have mercy on me in this hour, if, in my love for her, so young and good, I slandered Nature in the breasts of mothers rendered desperate! Pity my presumption, wickedness, and ignorance, and save her!"

Translations

show mercy or compassion

• Arabic: رَحِمَ (raḥima)
• Czech: slitovat se pf, smilovat se pf, ušetřit (cs) pf
• German: sich erbarmen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἐλεέω (eleéō)

• Hindi: दया करना (dayā karnā)
• Hungarian: könyörül (hu), megkönyörül (hu), irgalmaz (hu), (take pity, commiserate) szán (hu), megszán (hu)
• Latin: miseror
• Polish: zmiłować się pf
• Russian: пощадить (ru) (poščaditʹ)