Man arrested for allegedly threatening Merriam-Webster over definition of female

A California man was arrested after making online threats against the dictionary publisher over their entries that defined women, investigators said.

A California man was arrested this week for allegedly threating to bomb Merriam-Webster's offices and kill its employees over the dictionary publisher's definitions for women, federal prosecutors said.

Jeremy David Hanson, 34, of Rossmoor, California, was charged on April 20 with one count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence for alleged online threats that he sent to the company in October, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.

Hanson allegedly sent the company several threatening messages through its "Contact us" section on its website and in the comments section on its webpages that corresponded to the word entries for “Girl” and “Woman.” Rachael Rollins, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said. Rollins said the threats were serious enough to force Merriam-Webster to close its Springfield and New York offices out of an abundance of caution.

"We believe Hanson sent a multitude of anonymous threatening and despicable messages related to the LGBTQ community that were intended to evoke fear and division," she said in a statement.