kill

The act of killing.

Noun

  1. The act of killing.
    • The assassin liked to make a clean kill, and thus favored small arms over explosives.
    • The blonde women were in a frenzy of excitement, their faces transformed from dull moronity to living evil; they shouted like wild animals at the kill. - 1957, Sydney J. Bounds, The Robot Brains, London: Digit Books,...
  2. Specifically, the death blow.
    • The hunter delivered the kill with a pistol shot to the head.
  3. The result of killing; that which has been killed.
    • The fox dragged its kill back to its den.
    • If ye plunder his kill from a weaker, devour not all in thy pride. - 1895 November, Rudyard Kipling, The Second Jungle Book, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:
  4. An instance of killing; a score on the tally of enemy personnel or vehicles killed or destroyed.
    • confirmed kills
    • A flying ace is usually one with five or more confirmed kills.
  5. The grounding of the ball on the opponent's court, winning the rally.
    • As a senior in 1993, Turner had a kill percentage of 40.8, which was a school record at the time and the best in the SAC. Turner concluded her volleyball career with 1,349 kills, ranking fifth all-time at Catawba. -...

Origin

From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots kele, keil (“to kill”). * Perhaps from unattested Old English *cyllan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwulljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwuljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to throw, hit, hurt by throwing”). * Or, possibly a variant of Old English cwellan (“to kill, murder, execute”) (see quell). * Or, from Old Norse kolla (“to hit on the head, harm”), related to Norwegian kylla (“to poll”), Middle Dutch kollen (“to knock down”), Icelandic kollur (“top, head”); see also coll, cole). Compare also Saterland Frisian källe (“to hurt”), Middle Dutch kellen (“to kill, hurt”), Middle Low German kellen, killen (“to ache strongly, cause one great pain”) (whence German Low German kellen, killen (“to hurt, injure, torment, vex”)), Middle High German kellen (“to torment; torture”).

Forms

kills k1ll

Hyponyms

catastrophic kill firepower kill giant kill mission kill mobility kill one-hit kill thrill kill kill kit

Noun New York

  1. A creek; a body of water; a channel or arm of the sea.
    • The channel beyond Staten Island, which connects Newark Bay with Bergen Neck is the Kill van Kull, or the Kills.
    • Schuylkill, Catskill, etc.

Origin

Borrowing from Dutch kil, from Middle Dutch kille, from Old Dutch *killa, from Proto-West Germanic *killjā, from Proto-Germanic *kiljǭ.

Forms

kills

Noun alt of, alternative

  1. Alternative form of kiln.
    • This very curious and valuable record is as follows, in the handwriting of Conyers and the accompanying engraving is carefully reduced (see Fig. 138 ) from Conyers' own drawing:—“This kill was full of the coarser sorts...
    • The stack of one of the pottery kills is still a visible land mark of this once thriving industry. - 1945, Arthur Edwin James, The Potters and Potteries of Chester County, Pennsylvania, page 34:
    • A funerary ceremony comparable to that reported from Kolomoki site is indicated, though no "pottery kill” was located. - 1951, Bulletin - Eastern States Archeological Federation, page 11:

Forms

kills

Derived

all-kill autokill bottom kill buzzkill care killed a cat care killed the cat catch and kill crack kills crowd-kill curiosity killed the cat double kill dressed to kill dress to kill drill and kill eat what you kill fill or kill fish kill fishkill fit to kill giant-killing go for the kill hard kill hit-to-kill homekill

Verb

  1. To put to death; to extinguish the life of.
    • Smoking kills more people each year than alcohol and hard drugs combined.
    • A Troope of Horſe with Felt: Ile put't in proofe, / And when I haue ſtolne vpon theſe Son in Lawes, / Then kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill. - c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr....
    • Stephano: Monſter, I will kill this man : his daughter and I will be King and Queene, ſave our Graces : and Trinculo and thy ſelfe ſhall be Vice-royes : […] - 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The...
  2. To render inoperative.
    • He killed the engine and turned off the headlights, but remained in the car, waiting.
    • He killed the motor. - 1965 February 5, Worlds of If, page 33, column 1:
    • Peter: Ask Childers if it was worth his arm. Policeman: What did you do to his arm, Peter? Peter: I killed it, with a machine gun. - 1978, John Farris, The Fury:
  3. To stop, cease, or render void; to terminate.
    • The editor decided to kill the story.
    • The news that a hurricane had destroyed our beach house killed our plans to sell it.
    • My computer wouldn't respond until I killed some of the running processes.
  4. To amaze, exceed, stun, or otherwise incapacitate.
    • That night, she was dressed to kill.
    • That joke always kills me.
    • He told us we ought to think of Jesus as our buddy and all. He said he talked to Jesus all the time. Even when he was driving his car. That killed me. - 1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye,...
  5. To cause great pain, discomfort, or distress to; to hurt.
    • These tight shoes are killing my feet.
    • You don't ever want to get rabies. The doctor will have to give you multiple shots and they really kill.
    • two laps into our first walk, my dad needed to sit down. His back and legs were killing him. "You'll be okay," I assured him. "You just need to shake off the rust." I gave him a couple of Advil and, after a few minutes,...
  6. To produce feelings of dissatisfaction or revulsion in.
    • It kills me to throw out three whole turkeys, but I can't get anyone to take them and they've already started to go bad.
    • It kills me to learn how many poor people are practically starving in this country while rich moguls spend such outrageous amounts on useless luxuries.
    • And I really don't think you get it now No, I really don't think you get it now It's killing me, I admit it now Congratulations, you tore my heart out Congratulations - 2015 May 12, Rachel Platten, Jon Levine, Scott...
  7. To use up or to waste.
    • I'm just doing this to kill time.
    • Except for the shirt, which he’d worn, and the check, which he’d cashed, and the bottle of port, which he’d killed in bed on Christmas night, the gifts from his family were still on the floor of his bedroom. - 2001,...
  8. To overpower, overwhelm, or defeat.
    • Look at the amount of destruction to the enemy base. We pretty much killed their ability to retaliate.
    • The team had absolutely killed their traditional rivals, and the local sports bars were raucous with celebrations.
  9. To force a company out of business.
  10. To punish severely.
    • My parents are going to kill me!
    • "Father will kill us for this." - 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April...
  11. To strike (a ball, etc.) with such force and placement as to make a shot that is impossible to defend against, usually winning a point.
    • That close call encouraged Wales to launch another series of attacks that ended when lock Louis Deacon killed the ball illegally in the shadow of England's posts. - 2011 February 4, Gareth Roberts, “Wales 19-26...
  12. To cause (a ball, etc.) to be out of play, resulting in a stoppage of gameplay.
    • As the ball was delivered deep into St Kilda's forward line by Billings, Bontempelli had position on the goal line, with a pack forming in front of him. He decided to fly but didn't kill the ball, leaving it to spill...

Forms

kills killing killed no-table-tags glossary kill killest killedst killeth - k1ll

Synonyms

assassinate bump off dispatch drill ice knock off liquidate murder murk rub out slaughter slay smoke top whack claim fritter away while away break deactivate disable turn off annihilate bust one's ass

Antonyms

save rescue resurrect revive raise reanimate reawaken requicken revivify raise from the dead vitalise vivificate vivify give birth birth germinate spawn whelp

Hyponyms

cull instakill instant kill harvest assassinate burke Charlie Kirk do away with duppy hit ice liquidate murder settle execute put to death drown dunk send to a watery grave dangle hang lynch swing scrag

Related

die killer killing