slay

Meaning

Verb

1. To kill; to murder.
2. To eradicate or stamp out.
3. (informal) To defeat; to overcome (in a competition or contest).
4. (slang) To delight or overwhelm, especially with laughter.
5. To amaze, stun, or otherwise incapacitate by excellence; to excel at something.
6. (slang) To have sex with.

Noun

Something excellent, amazing, or fashionable.

Noun

Alternative form of sley

Concepts

slay

kill

murder

slaughter

destroy

assassinate

liquidate

massacre

butcher

dispatch

do in

cut down

execute

bump off

hit

off

polish off

remove

beat

shoot dead

annihilate

put to death

electrocute

eliminate

waste

abase

appease

assuage

breakdown

calm

chop

cover

cut off

defeat

demolish

depress

dig up

discourage

dishearten

down

drop

enervate

enfeeble

excavate

exhaust

go through

grub

hack

humiliate

mortify

overcome

overthrow

pass through

pull down

quiet

quiten

shoot

soothe

still

surmount

tackle

take down

tranquilize

use up

vanquish

weaken

win over

adjust

amend

correct

redress

set aright

straighten

do to death

take a life

persecute

end one’s life

shed blood

destroy completely

take life

despatch

slew

batten

going part

sley

extinguish

shut off

turn off

put down

strike down

behead

sever

attack

strike

finish off

knock off

finish

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sleɪ/

Etymology

From Middle English sleen, slayn, from Old English slēan (“to strike, beat, smite, stamp, forge, sting, slay, kill, impact”), from Proto-West Germanic *slahan, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną (“to fight, strike, kill”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”).
Cognate with Dutch slaan (“to beat, hit, strike”), Low German slaan (“hit, strike”), German schlagen (“to beat, hit, strike”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish slå (“to knock, beat, strike”), Icelandic slá (“to strike”). Related to slaughter, onslaught.