murder will out

English

Etymology

The phrase murder will out, literally "murder will become public", appears as far back as Geoffrey Chaucer's works. The phrase is often linked to the superstition that a murderer's presence near the corpse will be indicated by fresh bleeding.

Proverb

murder will out

a murderer will always be discovered.
(idiomatic) secrets or hidden crimes will eventually be exposed or discovered; nothing that is secret can remain a secret forever.

Translations

proverb

Finnish: ennen pitkää totuus paljastuu
Hebrew: סוף גנב לתליה‎ (he), רצח סופו שיתגלה‎

Russian: ши́ла в мешке́ не утаи́шь (šíla v mešké ne utaíšʹ, literally “you can't hide an awl in a sack”)

References

“murder will out” in E. D. Hirsch Jr., Joseph F. Kett, James Trefil, The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 3rd rev. and updated edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2002, →ISBN; reproduced on Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
“murder” in Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd rev. and updated edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 1993, →ISBN; reproduced on Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
"English Legal Proverbs", Donald F. Bond, PMLA, Vol. 51, No. 4 (Dec., 1936), pp. 927.