Kill Definition

kĭl
killed, killing, kills
verb
killed, killing, kills
To put to death.
Who killed Julius Caesar?
American Heritage
To destroy life.
Webster's New World
To be killed.
Plants that kill easily.
Webster's New World
To destroy; put an end to; ruin.
Webster's New World
To destroy the vital or active qualities of.
Webster's New World
noun
kills
An act or instance of killing.
Webster's New World
An animal or animals killed.
Webster's New World
A person killed or to be killed.
American Heritage
An enemy plane, ship, etc. destroyed.
Webster's New World
An event in which large numbers of individuals are killed.
A fish kill.
American Heritage
idiom
in at
  • Present at the moment of triumph.
American Heritage
go (in) for the kill
  • to make a strong or aggressive effort to win or succeed
Webster's New World
in at the kill
  • present when the hunted animal is killed
  • present at the end or climax of some action
Webster's New World
to kill
  • to make a strongly desirable impression

    dressed to kill

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Kill

Noun

Singular:
kill
Plural:
kills

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Kill

  • in at
  • go (in) for the kill
  • in at the kill
  • to kill

Origin of Kill

  • From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), possibly a variant of Old English cwellan (“to kill, murder, execute”) (see quell), or from Old Norse kolla (“to hit on the head, harm”) (compare Norwegian kylla (“to poll”), Middle Dutch kollen (“to knock down”), Icelandic kollur (“top, head”), see coll, cole). Compare also Middle Dutch killen, kellen (“to kill”), Middle Low German killen (“to ache strongly, to cause one great pain”), Middle High German kellen.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English killen perhaps from Old English cyllan gwelə- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle Dutch kille via Dutch kil

    From Wiktionary

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