killing

killing
    adj 1: very funny; "a killing joke"; "sidesplitting antics"
           [syn: {killing}, {sidesplitting}]
    n 1: an event that causes someone to die [syn: {killing},
         {violent death}]
    2: the act of terminating a life [syn: {killing}, {kill},
       {putting to death}]
    3: a very large profit [syn: {killing}, {cleanup}]
    

Kill \Kill\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Killed} (k[i^]ld); p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Killing}.] [OE. killen, kellen, cullen, to kill,
   strike; perh. the same word as cwellen, quellen, to kill (cf.
   {Quell}), or perh. rather akin to Icel. kolla to hit in the
   head, harm, kollr top, summit, head, Sw. kulle, D. kollen to
   kill with the ax.]
   1. To deprive of life, animal or vegetable, in any manner or
      by any means; to render inanimate; to put to death; to
      slay.
      [1913 Webster]

            Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words !
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To destroy; to ruin; as, to kill one's chances; to kill
      the sale of a book. "To kill thine honor." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Her lively color kill'd with deadly cares. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To cause to cease; to quell; to calm; to still; as, in
      seamen's language, a shower of rain kills the wind; new
      sound insultation killed the loud noises from outside.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

            Be comforted, good madam; the great rage,
            You see, is killed in him.            --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To destroy the effect of; to counteract; to neutralize;
      as, alkali kills acid.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To waste or spend unprofitably; -- usually used of time;
      as, he killed an hour waiting for the doctor to see him.
      [PJC]

   6. To cancel or forbid publication of (a report, article,
      etc.), after it has been written; as, they killed the
      article after getting threats of a lawsuit.
      [PJC]

   {To kill time}, to busy one's self with something which
      occupies the attention, or makes the time pass without
      tediousness.

   Syn: To murder; assassinate; slay; butcher; destroy. -- To
        {Kill}, {Murder}, {Assassinate}. To kill does not
        necessarily mean any more than to deprive of life. A man
        may kill another by accident or in self-defense, without
        the imputation of guilt. To murder is to kill with
        malicious forethought and intention. To assassinate is
        to murder suddenly and by stealth. The sheriff may kill
        without murdering; the duelist murders, but does not
        assassinate his antagonist; the assassin kills and
        murders.
    

Killing \Kill"ing\, a.
   Literally, that kills; having power to kill; fatal; in a
   colloquial sense, conquering; captivating; irresistible. --
   {Kill"ing*ly}, adv.
   [1913 Webster]

         Those eyes are made so killing.          --Pope.
   [1913 Webster]

         Nothing could be more killingly spoken.  --Milton.
   [1913 Webster]
    

killing \kill"ing\, n.
   1. The act or process of causing a living organism to die.
      [PJC]

   2. An unusually large gain in a financial or business
      transaction or enterprise; as, she made a killing trading
      cattle futures.
      [PJC]
    

197 Moby Thesaurus words for "killing":
      Herculean, arduous, asphyxiation, assault, attack, backbreaking,
      baneful, battering, beaming, best seller, big hit, blood,
      bloodshed, blooming, bomb, bonanza, bright, brilliant,
      brilliant success, brutal, burdensome, butchery, capital gains,
      carnage, choke, choking, cleanup, clear profit, coup, crushing,
      dazzling, deadly, death, death-bringing, deathful, deathly,
      debilitating, decimation, destructive, devastating, difficult,
      disorderliness, dividends, divine, draining, drowning, earnings,
      effortful, enervating, execution, exhausting, extermination, fad,
      fatal, fatality, fatiguesome, fatiguing, feral, filthy lucre,
      forced, forcible seizure, foul play, gain, gains, gas, gasser,
      genocide, get, gettings, glamorous, gleanings, glorious, glowing,
      gorgeous, great success, gross, gross profit, grueling,
      hard-earned, hard-fought, heavenly, heavy, hefty, hit, hoard,
      homicide, income, interest, internecine, labored, laborious,
      laying waste, lethal, liquidation, liver death, looting, lucre,
      makings, malign, malignant, manslaughter, mass destruction,
      mass murder, massacre, megadeath, meteoric success,
      momentary success, mortal, murder, neat profit, net, net profit,
      obstreperousness, onerous, onslaught, operose, oppressive, painful,
      paper profits, pelf, percentage, perk, perks, pernicious,
      perquisite, pickings, pillaging, proceeds, profit, profits,
      punishing, radiant, rake-off, rape, raving, ravishing, receipts,
      resounding triumph, resplendent, return, returns, riot, rioting,
      roaring success, ruinous, sacking, savage, sensation, serum death,
      shining, slaughter, slaying, smash, smash hit, smotheration,
      smothering, sowing with salt, sparkling, splendid, splendorous,
      splendrous, starvation, store, strained, straining, strangling,
      strangulation, strenuous, stressful, stroke of luck, stunning,
      sublime, success, suffocation, take, take-in, tiresome, tiring,
      toilsome, tough, triumph, troublesome, trying, unruliness, uphill,
      violation, violent death, virulent, watery grave, wealth, weariful,
      wearing, wearisome, wearying, windfall, winnings, wow