slay

Meaning

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.

kill

shoot dead

quiten

set aright

turn off

shed blood

take a life

end one’s life

take life

destroy completely

going part

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sleɪ/

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.