kill

English Online Dictionary. What means kill‎? What does kill mean?

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: kĭl, IPA^(key): /kɪl/
  • (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): [kʰɪɫ]
  • (l-vocalizing: UK, General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): [kʰɪo̯], [kʰɪʊ̯]
• Rhymes: -ɪl

Etymology 1

From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots kele, keil (“to kill”).

• Perhaps from Old English *cyllan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwulljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwuljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to throw, hit, hurt by throwing”).
• Or, possibly a variant of Old English cwellan (“to kill, murder, execute”) (see quell).
• Or, from Old Norse kolla (“to hit on the head, harm”), related to Norwegian kylla (“to poll”), Middle Dutch kollen (“to knock down”), Icelandic kollur (“top, head”); see also coll, cole).

Compare also Saterland Frisian källe (“to hurt”), Middle Dutch kellen (“to kill, hurt”), Middle Low German kellen, killen (“to ache strongly, cause one great pain”), Middle High German kellen (“to torment; torture”).

Verb

kill (third-person singular simple present kills, present participle killing, simple past and past participle killed)

1. (transitive) To put to death; to extinguish the life of.
2. (transitive) To render inoperative.
3. (transitive, figuratively) To stop, cease, or render void; to terminate.
5. (transitive, figuratively, hyperbolic) To amaze, exceed, stun, or otherwise incapacitate.
6. (transitive or intransitive, figuratively, hyperbolic) To cause great pain, discomfort, or distress to; to hurt.
7. (transitive, figuratively) To produce feelings of dissatisfaction or revulsion in.

8. (transitive) To use up or to waste.
9. (transitive, figuratively, informal) To overpower, overwhelm, or defeat.

10. (transitive) To force a company out of business.
11. (figuratively, informal, hyperbolic, transitive) To punish severely.
12. (transitive, sports) To strike (a ball, etc.) with such force and placement as to make a shot that is impossible to defend against, usually winning a point.
13. (transitive, sports) To cause (a ball, etc.) to be out of play, resulting in a stoppage of gameplay.
14. To succeed with an audience, especially in comedy.
15. (mathematics, transitive, informal) To cause to assume the value zero.
16. (computing, Internet, IRC, transitive) To disconnect (a user) involuntarily from the network.
17. (metallurgy) To deadmelt.
18. (slang) To sexually penetrate in a skillful way.
19. (reflexive, informal) To exert oneself to an excessive degree.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (to put to death): assassinate, bump off, dispatch, ice, knock off, liquidate, murder, rub out, slaughter, slay, top, whack
• (to use up or waste): fritter away, while away
• (to render inoperative): break, deactivate, disable, turn off
• (to exert an overwhelming effect on): annihilate (informal)
• (to exert oneself to an excessive degree): bust one's ass (vulgar, slang)
• See also Thesaurus:kill

Hyponyms

• cull
• instakill
• instant kill

Translations

Noun

kill (plural kills)

1. The act of killing.

2. Specifically, the death blow.

3. The result of killing; that which has been killed.
   2. (military, gaming, countable) An instance of killing; a score on the tally of enemy personnel or vehicles killed or destroyed.

      Hyponym: shootdown

4. (volleyball) The grounding of the ball on the opponent's court, winning the rally.
   • 2011, the 34th Catawba College Sports Hall of Fame, in Catawba College's Campus Magazine, Spring/Summer 2011, page 21:

     As a senior in 1993, Turner had a kill percentage of 40.8, which was a school record at the time and the best in the SAC. Turner concluded her volleyball career with 1,349 kills, ranking fifth all-time at Catawba.

Hyponyms

• catastrophic kill
• firepower kill
• mission kill
• mobility kill
• one-hit kill
• thrill kill
• kill kit

Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowing from Dutch kil, from Middle Dutch kille, from Old Dutch *killa, from Proto-West Germanic *killjā, from Proto-Germanic *kiljǭ.

Noun

kill (plural kills)

1. (New York) A creek; a body of water; a channel or arm of the sea.

Translations

Etymology 3

Noun

kill (plural kills)

1. (rare) Alternative form of kiln

Derived terms

Cahuilla

Adverb

kíll

1. Not

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Sranan Tongo kel (“guy, dude”).

Pronunciation

Noun

kill m (plural kills, diminutive killie n)

1. (Netherlands, slang) guy, dude

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kɪl]
• Rhymes: -ɪl

Verb

kill

1. singular imperative of killen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of killen

Livonian

Etymology 1

From Proto-Finnic *külvädäk. Cognate with Finnish kylvää.

Alternative forms

• (Courland) killõ

Verb

kill

1. sow

Etymology 2

From Proto-Finnic *kolat'ak. Cognate with Estonian kõlama.

Alternative forms

• (Courland) ki'llõ

Verb

kill

1. ring
2. make noise

Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kil/
• Rhymes: -il

Etymology 1

From Middle High German küel, from Old High German kuoli, from Proto-West Germanic *kōl(ī), from Proto-Germanic *kōlaz.

Cognate with German kühl, English cool, Dutch koel, Low German kool.

Adjective

kill (masculine killen, neuter killt, comparative méi kill, superlative am killsten)

1. cool

Declension

Related terms

• kal

Etymology 2

Verb

kill

1. second-person singular imperative of killen

Ter Sami

Etymology

From Proto-Samic *kielë.

Noun

kill

1. language

Derived terms

• samekill

Further reading

• Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎^[6], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland