kill

Verb

kill (third-person singular simple present kills, present participle killing, simple past and past participle killed)

1. (transitive) To put to death; to extinguish the life of.

   Smoking kills more people each year than alcohol and drugs combined.

   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi], page 304:

     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.

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 12:

     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 : […]

   • 2016, Justin O. Schmidt, The Sting of the Wild, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 102:

     Fire ants circumvented the problem of an ineffective sting by having an unusual and highly effective venom that when daubed or sprayed on other ants penetrates their waxy protective integumental barrier and kills or disables them.

   • 2021, Francis A. Boyle, World Politics, Human Rights, and International Law, page 9:

     Indeed, referring to his drone murder extermination campaign Obama bragged: "I'm really good at killing people!" Those are Obama's own words!

2. (transitive) To render inoperative.

   He killed the engine and turned off the headlights, but remained in the car, waiting.

   • 1965 February, Worlds of If, page 33, column 1:

     He killed the motor.

   • 1978, John Farris, The Fury:

     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.

3. (transitive, figuratively) 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.

   • 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 244:

     He closed the boot, walked round to the kerbside and bent to peer into the car's interior, his face pressed to the passenger window, his hands shading his eyes to kill the reflection.

5. (transitive, figuratively, hyperbolic) To amaze, exceed, stun, or otherwise incapacitate.

   That night, she was dressed to kill.

   That joke always kills me.

   • 1951, J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 23:

     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.

6. (transitive or intransitive, figuratively, hyperbolic) 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.

   • 2008 October, Davy Rothbart, “How I caught up with dad”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 8, →ISSN, page 110:

     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, urged him back onto the track.

7. (transitive, figuratively) 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.

8. (transitive) To use up or to waste.

   I'm just doing this to kill time.

   • 2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:

     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.

9. (transitive, figuratively, informal) 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.

10. (transitive) To force a company out of business.
11. (figuratively, informal, hyperbolic, transitive) To punish severely.

    My parents are going to kill me!

    • 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 2019:

      "Father will kill us for this."

12. (transitive, sports) 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.
    • 2011 February 4, Gareth Roberts, “Wales 19-26 England”, in BBC‎:

      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.

13. (transitive, sports) To cause (a ball, etc.) to be out of play, resulting in a stoppage of gameplay.
    • 2015 May 10, Nathan Schmook, “Billings vs Bont”, in St Kilda Football Club‎:

      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 where he had been positioned moments earlier. Jack Sinclair gratefully swooped and kicked a goal that cut the margin to five points.

14. To succeed with an audience, especially in comedy.
    • 2012, Yael Kohen, We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy‎:

      When comics fail, they "die"; when they succeed, they "kill."

    • 2016 February 23, Tim Gray, “Chris Rock Tests Jokes at Comedy Clubs Ahead of Oscars”, in Variety‎:

      You really killed it at the Comedy Store last night.

15. (mathematics, transitive, informal) To cause to assume the value zero.
16. (computing, Internet, IRC, transitive) To disconnect (a user) involuntarily from the network.
17. (metallurgy) To deadmelt.
18. (slang) To sexually penetrate in a skillful way.
    • 1992, Ice Cube (lyrics and music), “It Was A Good Day”, in The Predator:

      I felt on her big fat fanny
      Pulled out the jammy and killed the punanni

19. (reflexive, informal) To exert oneself to an excessive degree.

    Don't kill yourself raking the leaves now; we're due for a windstorm tonight.

Noun

kill (plural kills)

1. The act of killing.

   The assassin liked to make a clean kill, and thus favored small arms over explosives.

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.

   • 1895 November, Rudyard Kipling, The Second Jungle Book, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:

     If ye plunder his kill from a weaker, devour not all in thy pride.

   2. (military, gaming, countable) 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.

      Hyponym: shootdown

4. (volleyball) The grounding of the ball on the opponent's court, winning the rally.
   • 2011, the 34th Catawba College Sports Hall of Fame, in Catawba College's Campus Magazine, Spring/Summer 2011, page 21:

     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.

Noun

kill (plural kills)

1. (New York) 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.

Noun

kill (plural kills)

1. (rare) Alternative form of kiln
   • 1878, Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt, The Ceramic Art of Great Britain from Pre-historic Times Down to the Present Day, page 39:

     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 of potts or cullings, so that few were saved whole, viz., lamps, bottles, urnes, dishes.

   • 1945, Arthur Edwin James, The Potters and Potteries of Chester County, Pennsylvania, page 34:

     The stack of one of the pottery kills is still a visible land mark of this once thriving industry.

   • 1951, Bulletin - Eastern States Archeological Federation, page 11:

     A funerary ceremony comparable to that reported from Kolomoki site is indicated, though no "pottery kill” was located.

   • 2000, Argo - Volume 43, Issue 1, page 59:

     We may indeed assume that cracked and broken ware was discarded in the immediate vicinity of the pottery kills, that is, if it was not thrown in to the Krka.

   • 2015, Kirilka Stavreva, Words Like Daggers, page 77:

     Admonished that she should “keep the woman's virtue and be more silent,” she countered “that she was 'born in a mill, begot in a kill, she must have her will,' she could speak no softlier.”

Alternative forms

• (Courland) killõ

Verb

kill

1. sow

Alternative forms

• (Courland) ki'llõ

Verb

kill

1. ring
2. make noise

Adjective

kill (masculine killen, neuter killt, comparative méi kill, superlative am killsten)

1. cool

Verb

kill

1. second-person singular imperative of killen

Derived terms

• samekill

Further reading

• Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎, Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland