Link Centre Dictionary

kill

UK/ˈkɪʊ̯/ US/ˈkɪl/ very common informal slang us
verb (15) noun (2)

verb

1.

cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly

  • “This man killed several people when he tried to rob a bank”
  • “The farmer killed a pig for the holidays”
2.

thwart the passage of

  • “kill a motion”
  • “he shot down the student”
Synonyms
3.

cause the death of, without intention

  • “She was killed in the collision of three cars”
4.

end or extinguish by forceful means

  • “Stamp out poverty!”
Synonyms
5.

be fatal

  • “cigarettes kill”
  • “drunken driving kills”
6.

be the source of great pain for

  • “These new shoes are killing me!”
7.

overwhelm with hilarity, pleasure, or admiration

  • “The comedian was so funny, he was killing me!”
8.

hit with so much force as to make a return impossible, in racket games

  • “She killed the ball”
9.

hit with great force

  • “He killed the ball”
10.

deprive of life

  • “AIDS has killed thousands in Africa”
11.

drink down entirely

  • “He downed three martinis before dinner”
  • “She killed a bottle of brandy that night”
  • “They popped a few beer after work”
Synonyms
12.

mark for deletion, rub off, or erase

  • “kill these lines in the President”
Synonyms
13.

tire out completely

  • “The daily stress of her work is killing her”
14.

cause to cease operating

  • “kill the engine”
15.

destroy a vitally essential quality of or in

  • “Eating artichokes kills the taste of all other foods”

noun

1.

the act of terminating a life

Synonyms
2.

the destruction of an enemy plane or ship or tank or missile

  • “the pilot reported two kills during the mission”

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”).

Phrases

  • Anthony Kill
  • Arthur Kill
  • Basher Kill
  • Batavia Kill
  • Beaver Kill
  • Beer Kill
  • Bronx Kill
  • Bush Kill

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

Causes

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.