kill off

kill off idiom
  1. Render extinct, eliminate completely, as in The plague killed off entire villages and towns. [c. 1600]
  2. Represent as dead, as in This mystery writer kills off a new victim in almost every chapter. [Mid-1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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