kill definition | Dictionary.com

kill

1 [kil]

–verb (used with object)

1.	to deprive of life in any manner; cause the death of; slay.

2.	to destroy; do away with; extinguish: His response killed our hopes.

3.	to destroy or neutralize the active qualities of: to kill an odor.

4.	to spoil the effect of: His extra brushwork killed the painting.

5.	to cause (time) to be consumed with seeming rapidity or with a minimum of boredom, esp. by engaging in some easy activity or amusement of passing interest: I had to kill three hours before plane time.

6.	to spend (time) unprofitably: He killed ten good years on that job.

7.	Informal. to overcome completely or with irresistible effect: That comedian kills me.

8.	to muffle or deaden: This carpet kills the sound of footsteps.

9.	Informal. to cause distress or discomfort to: These new shoes are killing me.

10.	Informal. to tire completely; exhaust: The long hike killed us.

11.	Informal. to consume completely: They killed a bottle of bourbon between them.

12.	to cancel publication of (a word, paragraph, item, etc.), esp. after it has been set in type.

13.	to defeat or veto (a legislative bill, etc.).

14.	Electricity. to render (a circuit) dead.

15.	to stop the operation of (machinery, engines, etc.): He killed the motor and the car stopped.

16.	Tennis. to hit (a ball) with such force that its return is impossible.

17.

Metallurgy.

a.	to deoxidize (steel) before teeming into an ingot mold.

b.	to eliminate springiness from (wire or the like).

c.	to cold-roll (sheet metal) after final heat treatment in order to eliminate distortion.

18.	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)

19.	to inflict or cause death.

20.	to commit murder.

21.	to be killed.

22.	to overcome completely; produce an irresistible effect: dressed to kill.

23.	Slang. to feel a smarting pain, as from a minor accident; sting: I stubbed my little toe and that really kills.

–noun

24.	the act of killing, esp. game: The hounds moved in for the kill.

25.	an animal or animals killed.

26.	a number or quantity killed.

27.	an act or instance of hitting or destroying a target, esp. an enemy aircraft.

28.	the target so hit or, esp., destroyed.

29.	Sports. kill shot.

—Verb phrase

30.

kill off,

a.	to destroy completely; kill, esp. successively or indiscriminately: The invaders killed off all the inhabitants of the town.

b.	Informal. to extinguish; eliminate: The bus ride every day kills off all of my energy.

—Idiom

31.	kill with kindness, to overdo in one's efforts to be kind: The aunts would kill their nephews and nieces with kindness.

Origin:
1175–1225; ME cullen, killen to strike, beat, kill, OE *cyllan; c. dial. G küllen (Westphalian). See quell

Related forms:

kill⋅a⋅ble, adjective

Synonyms:
1. slaughter, massacre, butcher; hang, electrocute, behead, guillotine, strangle, garrote; assassinate. Kill, execute, murder all mean to deprive of life. Kill is the general word, with no implication of the manner of killing, the agent or cause, or the nature of what is killed (whether human being, animal, or plant): to kill a person. Execute is used with reference to the putting to death of one in accordance with a legal sentence, no matter what the means are: to execute a criminal. Murder is used of killing a human being unlawfully: He murdered him for his money.

kill

2 [kil]

–noun Chiefly New York State.

a channel; creek; stream; river: used esp. in place names: Kill Van Kull.

Origin:
1660–70, Americanism; < D kil, MD kille channel

kill shot

–noun Sports.

a decisive smashing or punching of a ball with the hand or a racquet such that it is virtually unreturnable, as in volleyball, handball, or badminton.

Also called kill.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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creek (krēk, krĭk)

A small stream, often a shallow or intermittent tributary to a river. Also called regionally branch, brook¹, kill², run.
A channel or stream running through a salt marsh: tidal creeks teeming with shore wildlife.
Chiefly British A small inlet in a shoreline, extending farther inland than a cove.

[Middle English creke, probably from Old Norse kriki, bend.]

kill¹ (kĭl)

v. killed, kill·ing, kills

v. tr.

1. To put to death.
2. To deprive of life: The Black Death was a disease that killed millions.
3. To destroy a vitally essential quality in: Too much garlic killed the taste of the meat.
4. To cause to cease operating; turn off: killed the motor.
5. To tire out completely; exhaust: "The trip to work, and the boredom and nervousness of jobs, kills men" (Jimmy Breslin).
6. To hit (a ball) with great force.
7. To hit (a ball) with such force as to make a return impossible, especially in a racquet game.
To put an end to; extinguish: The rain killed our plans for a picnic.
1. To destroy a vitally essential quality in: Too much garlic killed the taste of the meat.
2. To cause to cease operating; turn off: killed the motor.
3. To tire out completely; exhaust: "The trip to work, and the boredom and nervousness of jobs, kills men" (Jimmy Breslin).
4. To hit (a ball) with great force.
5. To hit (a ball) with such force as to make a return impossible, especially in a racquet game.
To pass (time) in aimless activity: killed a few hours before the flight by sightseeing.
To consume entirely; finish off: kill a bottle of brandy.
Sports To prevent a hockey team on a power play from scoring during (a penalty).
To cause extreme pain or discomfort to: My shoes are killing me.
To mark for deletion; rule out: killed the story.
To thwart passage of; veto: kill a congressional bill.
Informal To overwhelm with hilarity, pleasure, or admiration: The outstanding finale killed the audience.
Sports
1. To hit (a ball) with great force.
2. To hit (a ball) with such force as to make a return impossible, especially in a racquet game.

v. intr.

To cause death or extinction; be fatal.
To commit murder.
Informal To make such a strong impression as to overcome: dress to kill.

The act of killing.
1. An animal killed, especially in hunting.
2. A person killed or to be killed: "Infantrymen . . . had seen too many kills suddenly get up and run away or shoot at them as they approached" (Nelson DeMille).
3. An enemy aircraft, vessel, or missile that has been attacked and destroyed.
Sports A kill shot.

Phrasal Verb(s):
kill offTo destroy in such large numbers as to render extinct.

Idiom(s):
in at/on the killPresent at the moment of triumph.

[Middle English killen, perhaps from Old English *cyllan; see g^welə- in Indo-European roots.]

kill² (kĭl)

n. New York State
See creek. See Regional Notes at stoop², run.

[Dutch kil, from Middle Dutch kille.]

Kill

Kill\, n. A kiln. [Obs.] --Fuller.

Kill

Kill\, n. [D. kil.] A channel or arm of the sea; a river; a stream; as, the channel between Staten Island and Bergen Neck is the Kill van Kull, or the Kills; -- used also in composition; as, Schuylkill, Catskill, etc.

Kill

Kill\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Killed; p. pr. & vb. n. Killing.] [OE. killen, kellen, cullen, to kill, strike; perh. the same word as cwellen, quellen, to kill (cf. Quell), or perh. rather akin to Icel. kolla to hit in the head, harm, kollr top, summit, head, Sw. kulle, D. kollen to kill with the ax.]

1. To deprive of life, animal or vegetable, in any manner or by any means; to render inanimate; to put to death; to slay.

Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words ! --Shak.

2. To destroy; to ruin; as, to kill one's chances; to kill the sale of a book. "To kill thine honor." --Shak.

Her lively color kill'd with deadly cares. --Shak.

3. To cause to cease; to quell; to calm; to still; as, in seamen's language, a shower of rain kills the wind.

Be comforted, good madam; the great rage, You see, is killed in him. --Shak.

4. To destroy the effect of; to counteract; to neutralize; as, alkali kills acid.

To kill time, to busy one's self with something which occupies the attention, or makes the time pass without tediousness.

Syn: To murder; assassinate; slay; butcher; destroy. -- To Kill, Murder, Assassinate. To kill does not necessarily mean any more than to deprive of life. A man may kill another by accident or in self-defense, without the imputation of guilt. To murder is to kill with malicious forethought and intention. To assassinate is tomurder suddenly and by stealth. The sheriff may kill without murdering; the duelist murders, but does not assassinate his antagonist; the assassin kills and murders.

Kill

Kill\, n. 1. The act of killing.

"There is none like to me!" says the cub in the pride of his earliest kill. --Kipling.

2. An animal killed in the hunt, as by a beast of prey.

If ye plunder his kill from a weaker, devour not all in thy pride. --Kipling.

Language Translation for : kill

Spanish: matar, asesinar,

German: töten,

Japanese: 殺す

More Translations »

kill (v.)

c.1205, "to strike, hit, beat, knock." Sense of "to deprive of life" first recorded c.1330. Perhaps from an unrecorded variant of O.E. cwellan "to kill" (see quell), but the earliest sense suggests otherwise. The noun meaning "an act of killing (an animal)" is from 1852. Lawn tennis serve sense is from 1903. The kill "the knockout" is boxing jargon, 1950. Killer in slang sense of "impressive person or thing" first recorded 1937; as an adj., 1979. Killjoy is first recorded 1776; formerly used with other stems (cf. kill-courtesy "boorish person," kill-cow "bully, big man," etc.). Sense in to kill time is from 1728. Killer whale is from 1725. Killing "large profit" is 1888, Amer.Eng. slang. Kill-devil, colloquial for "rum," especially if new or of bad quality, is from 1639.

kill (n.)

"stream," 1639, Amer.Eng., from Du. kil, from M.Du. kille "riverbed," especially in place names.

Kill

To cancel a trade or order that has been placed, but not filled.

Investopedia Commentary

Why Wall Street can't use simple terms like "cancel" is beyond us.