kill

Meaning

Verb

1. (transitive) To put to death; to extinguish the life of.
2. (transitive) To render inoperative.
3. (figuratively, transitive) To stop, cease, or render void; to terminate.
4. (excessive, figuratively, transitive) To amaze, exceed, stun, or otherwise incapacitate.
5. (excessive, figuratively, intransitive, transitive) To cause great pain, discomfort, or distress to; to hurt.
6. (figuratively, transitive) To produce feelings of dissatisfaction or revulsion in.
7. (transitive) To use up or to waste.
8. (figuratively, informal, transitive) To overpower, overwhelm, or defeat.
9. (transitive) To force a company out of business.
10. (excessive, figuratively, informal, transitive) To punish severely.
11. (transitive) 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.
12. (transitive) To cause (a ball, etc.) to be out of play, resulting in a stoppage of gameplay.
13. To succeed with an audience, especially in comedy.
14. (informal, transitive) To cause to assume the value zero.
15. (Internet, transitive) To disconnect (a user) involuntarily from the network.
16. To deadmelt.
17. (slang) To sexually penetrate in a skillful way.
18. (informal, reflexive) To exert oneself to an excessive degree.

Noun

1. The act of killing.
2. Specifically, the death blow.
3. The result of killing; that which has been killed.
4. (countable) An instance of killing; a score on the tally of enemy personnel or vehicles killed or destroyed.
5. The grounding of the ball on the opponent's court, winning the rally.

Noun

A creek; a body of water; a channel or arm of the sea.

Noun

Alternative form of kiln.

Synonyms

murder

hurt

slay

destroy

slaughter

injure

strike

assassinate

hit

execute

massacre

butcher

put to death

defeat

beat

eliminate

liquidate

waste

crush

extinguish

dispatch

do away with

finish off

exterminate

annihilate

shoot

wound

bump off

behead

cut down

ruin

wipe out

obliterate

do in

stamp out

spoil

stab

fight

finish

smite

turn off

shoot down

extirpate

shoot dead

electrocute

neutralize

mow down

killing

down

knock out

Translations

tuer

🔪🩸👤

matar

🔪🩸👤

töten

🔪🩸👤

matar

🔪🩸👤

uccidere

🔪🩸👤

doden

🔪🩸👤

ammazzare

🔪🩸👤

umbringen

🔪🩸👤

öldürmek

🔪🩸👤

σκοτώνω

asesinar

matar

🔪🩸👤

abattre

ermorden

assassinare

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɪl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: killen

Cognate with Scots: kele

Inherited from Old English: *cyllan

Inherited from Old English: cwellan

Cognate with Norwegian: kylla

Cognate with Middle Dutch: kollen

Cognate with Icelandic: kollur

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: källe

Cognate with Middle Dutch: kellen

Cognate with Middle Low German: kellen

Cognate with Middle High German: kellen

In summary

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”).

Sentences

He was sentenced to death for plotting to kill Pope Leo the Tenth .

This enrages the farmers , who decide to hunt them down and kill them .

Rumors of his parents' infidelities drive him to nearly kill a local gossip .