English
kill
see also: Kill
Pronunciation
  • enPR: kĭl, IPA: /kɪl/
    • (RP, America) IPA: [kʰɪɫ]
    • (l-vocalizing:, _, British, Australia, New Zealand) IPA: [kʰɪo̯], [kʰɪʊ̯]
Etymology 1

From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen, of obscure origin.

  • Perhaps from Old English *cyllan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwulljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwuljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-.
  • Or, possibly a variant of Old English cwellan (see quell).
  • Or, from Old Norse kolla, related to Norwegian kylla, Middle Dutch kollen, Icelandic kollur; see also coll, cole).

    Compare also Saterland Frisian källe, Middle Dutch kellen, Middle Low German kellen, killen, Middle High German kellen.

Verb

kill (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 : […]
  2. (transitive) To render inoperative.
    He killed the engine and turned off the headlights, but remained in the car, waiting.
    • 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.
  4. (transitive, figuratively, hyperbole) 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.
  5. (transitive, figuratively, hyperbole) To cause great pain, discomfort or distress to; to hurt.
    These tight shoes are killing my feet.
  6. (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.
  7. (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.
  8. (transitive, figuratively, informal) To exert an overwhelming effect on.
    Look at the amount of destruction to the enemy base. We pretty much killed their ability to retaliate anymore.
  9. (transitive, figuratively, hyperbole) To overpower, overwhelm or defeat.
    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. (intransitive, informal, hyperbolic) To produce intense pain.
    You don't ever want to get rabies. The doctor will have to give you multiple shots and they really kill.
  12. (figuratively, informal, hyperbole, 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."
  13. (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.
  14. (transitive, sports) To cause (a ball, etc.) to be out of play, resulting in a stoppage of gameplay.
  15. To succeed with an audience, especially in comedy.
  16. (mathematics, transitive, informal) To cause to assume the value zero.
  17. (computing, Internet, IRC, transitive) To disconnect (a user) involuntarily from the network.
  18. (metallurgy) To deadmelt.
  19. (slang) To sexually penetrate in a skillful way.
  20. (reflexive, informal) To exert oneself to an excessive degree.
    Don't kill yourself raking the leaves now; we're due for a windstorm tonight.
Conjugation
Conjugation of kill

infinitive (to) kill
present tense past tense
1st-person singular kill killed
2nd-person singular

 kill, killest†

 killed, killedst†
3rd-person singular

 kills, killeth†

 killed
plural

 kill

subjunctive

 kill

killed
imperative

 kill

—
participles

 killing

 killed

†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations 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.
    1. (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.
Translations Translations Translations Etymology 2

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

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
    • 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.”
Kill
Etymology
  • As a German - and Dutch - surname, probably shortened from Kilian.
  • Also as a German surname, from Kyll in the Eifel mountains, from Latin Celbis.
  • As a Jewish surname, probably from Yiddish קיל.
Proper noun
  1. Surname.


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