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kill
1[ kil ]
verb (used with object)
- to deprive of life in any manner; cause the death of; slay.
Synonyms: assassinate, garrote, strangle, guillotine, behead, electrocute, hang, butcher, massacre, slaughter
His response killed our hopes.
- to destroy or neutralize the active qualities of:
to kill an odor.
- to spoil the effect of:
His extra brushwork killed the painting.
- to cause (time) to be consumed with seeming rapidity or with a minimum of boredom, especially by engaging in some easy activity or amusement of passing interest:
I had to kill three hours before plane time.
- to spend (time) unprofitably:
He killed ten good years on that job.
- Informal. to overcome completely or with irresistible effect:
That comedian kills me.
- to muffle or deaden:
This carpet kills the sound of footsteps.
- Informal. to cause distress or discomfort to:
These new shoes are killing me.
- Informal. to tire completely; exhaust:
The long hike killed us.
- Informal. to consume completely:
They killed a bottle of bourbon between them.
- to cancel publication of (a word, paragraph, item, etc.), especially after it has been set in type.
- to defeat or veto (a legislative bill, etc.).
- Electricity. to render (a circuit) dead.
- to stop the operation of (machinery, engines, etc.):
He killed the motor and the car stopped.
- Tennis. to hit (a ball) with such force that its return is impossible.
- Metallurgy.
- to deoxidize (steel) before teeming into an ingot mold.
- to eliminate springiness from (wire or the like).
- to cold-roll (sheet metal) after final heat treatment in order to eliminate distortion.
- Ice Hockey. to prevent the opposing team from scoring in the course of (a penalty being served by a teammate or teammates).
verb (used without object)
- to inflict or cause death.
- to commit murder.
- to be killed.
- to overcome completely; produce an irresistible effect:
dressed to kill.
- Slang. to feel a smarting pain, as from a minor accident; sting:
I stubbed my little toe and that really kills.
noun
- the act of killing, especially game:
The hounds moved in for the kill.
- an animal or animals killed.
- a number or quantity killed.
- an act or instance of hitting or destroying a target, especially an enemy aircraft.
- the target so hit or, especially, destroyed.
- Sports. kill shot.
verb phrase
- to destroy completely; kill, especially successively or indiscriminately:
The invaders killed off all the inhabitants of the town.
- Informal. to extinguish; eliminate:
The bus ride every day kills off all of my energy.
kill
1/ kɪl /
noun
- a channel, stream, or river (chiefly as part of place names)
kill
2/ kɪl /
verb
- also intr; when tr, sometimes foll by off to cause the death of (a person or animal)
- to put an end to; destroy
to kill someone's interest
- to make (time) pass quickly, esp while waiting for something
- to deaden (sound)
- informal.to tire out; exhaust
the effort killed him
- informal.to cause to suffer pain or discomfort
my shoes are killing me
- informal.to cancel, cut, or delete
to kill three lines of text
- informal.to quash, defeat, or veto
the bill was killed in the House of Lords
- informal.to switch off; stop
to kill a motor
- informal.also intr to overcome with attraction, laughter, surprise, etc
his gags kill me
she was dressed to kill
- slang.to consume (alcoholic drink) entirely
he killed three bottles of rum
- sport to hit (a ball) so hard or so accurately that the opponent cannot return it
- soccer to bring (a moving ball) under control; trap
- kill oneself informal.to overexert oneself
don't kill yourself
- kill two birds with one stoneto achieve two results with one action
noun
- the act of causing death, esp at the end of a hunt, bullfight, etc
- the animal or animals killed during a hunt
- the seasonal tally of stock slaughtered at a freezing works
- the destruction of a battleship, tank, etc
- in at the killpresent at the end or climax of some undertaking
Other Words From
- killa·ble adjective
- self-killed adjective
- un·killed adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of kill1
Origin of kill2
Word History and Origins
Origin of kill1
Origin of kill2
Idioms and Phrases
- kill with kindness, to overdo in one's efforts to be kind:
The aunts would kill their nephews and nieces with kindness.
More idioms and phrases containing kill
- curiosity killed the cat
- dressed to kill
- fit to kill
- in at the death (kill)
- make a killing
Synonym Study
Example Sentences
Warren first began thinking about how brands and gamers overlap in 2011, when he started a gaming-focused media company called Kill Screen.
As the coronavirus continues to infect millions and kill hundreds of thousands in the United States, returning kids to their scholastic normalcy is proving to be a halting, difficult process.
It also stops mice from squeaking, mostly because a good shot of it will kill a mouse.
Republicans have pushed back heavily against the $15 minimum-wage proposal, saying it would kill jobs and hurt small businesses.
Specifically because this was where, in 1954, Pedro Rodrigues Filho, later called “Killer Petey,” was born with a bruised skull, thanks to all the times his father tried to kill his mother while she was pregnant with him.
Without it, they say, the disease would surely kill her within two years.
That ground hold was to stop you flying through weather that could kill you and everyone else aboard.
Even a relatively small 250-pound bomb could kill or injure friendly troops who are within 650 feet of the explosion.
What responsibility was taken by cops when they kill unjustly?
By the way, I saw Good Kill at Venice and really enjoyed it.
It was little better than coal dust, and would not carry a ball fifty paces to kill or wound.
He could not bear to open his dreadful situation to his Uncle David, nor to kill himself, nor to defy the vengeance of Longcluse.
At last his anxiety reached a point where he was positive that if he received an adverse decision, it would surely kill him.
It was a very dangerous one, too, and sometimes lives were sacrificed in his efforts to capture or to kill this fierce wild beast.
Soldiers called out, and they gave two unfortunates leaden food enough to kill them.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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