kill with kindness

Slang Dictionary

kill definition


  1. tv.
    to be very successful with an audience; to perform very well for an audience. : She really killed them with that last joke.
  2. tv.
    to eat all of something; to drink all (of a bottle) of something. : We finally killed the last of the turkey.
  3. tv.
    to douse a light. : Would you kill the light so they can't see we're home?
  4. tv.
    to stop or terminate something; to quash a story; to stop a story from being printed in a newspaper. : Kill that story. It's got too many errors.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

kill with kindness

Overwhelm or harm someone with mistaken or excessive benevolence. For example, Aunt Mary constantly sends Jane chocolates and cake and other goodies, even though she's been told Jane's on a dietnothing like killing with kindness. This expression originated as kill with kindness as fond apes do their young (presumably crushing them to death in a hug) and was a proverb by the mid-1500s.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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