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kill

KIL/kɪl/

Verbkills, killing, killed

Noun pluralkills

20 meanings of kill

Practice

  1. 1
    end a lifeverbtransitive
    To cause the death of a person, animal, or other living thing.

    The hunters killed two deer before noon.

    A hard frost can kill tender seedlings overnight.

    UsageOften passive: was killed in a crash. The subject can be any cause: frost, smoking, a snake bite.

    Similarslay, slaughter, destroy

    Note

    Alongside death, it once meant a blow: Middle English killen meant "to strike, beat, cut," and its deeper origin is obscure, perhaps a root for hitting by throwing. The modern sense is where that blow ends. Shakespeare's Lear turns the bare verb into a battle cry: "kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill."

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  2. 2
    nouncountable
    An act of killing a person or animal, including the final attack; also each enemy killed or enemy vehicle destroyed, as counted in combat or in a video game.

    The documentary captured the leopard's kill in slow motion.

    The pilot was credited with five kills during the war.

  3. 3
    put an end toverbfigurativelytransitive
    To put an end to something, such as a plan, a law, or a business.

    The senate killed the bill before it reached a vote.

    Management decided to kill the project after the budget cuts.

    Similarscrap, end, cancel, axe

    Note

    The figurative sense reaches anything that can be switched off or called off. An editor kills a story, bad news kills a plan, a computer user kills a running process, and in Liam McIlvanney's The Heretic (2022) a man shades his eyes to kill the reflection on a car window. The object is something ongoing or intended, and to kill it is to end it before it runs its course.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

  4. 4
    waste (time)verbtransitive
    To use up or waste, especially time or remaining supplies.

    They killed the afternoon wandering around the mall.

    She wanted to kill a few minutes before her appointment.

    UsageSet phrase kill time, often with an -ing verb: killed an hour playing cards.

    Similarpass, fill, waste

    Note

    Two quite different objects take this sense. With time, it means getting through hours that would otherwise hang empty, as in the fixed phrase kill time. With drink or food it means finishing the lot: in Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections (2001) a man has killed a bottle of port in bed on Christmas night. There the stress falls on using something up, not on wasting it.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

  5. 5
    hurt badlyverbfigurativelytransitive or intransitive
    To cause someone great pain, discomfort, or distress.

    The bright lights were killing her eyes during the migraine.

    Long flights always kill my back, no matter how I sit.

    UsageMost often in the progressive: my back is killing me, these shoes are killing me.

    Similarhurt

    Note

    Pain described by exaggeration, and grammatically flexible. It can take an object (these shoes are killing my feet) or stand alone (the shots really kill). The progressive is its natural home, as in my back is killing me, because it reports pain that is still going on. Nobody hearing it thinks of death; the verb simply turns hurt up to its maximum.

  6. 6
    nouncountable
    In volleyball, an attacking hit that wins the rally outright, whether it lands untouched or the defenders cannot keep it in play.

    She finished the match with fifteen kills.

    A clean kill down the line ended the rally instantly.

    Similarspike, winner

    Note

    A volleyball statistic as much as a play. Players are credited with kills, and records track both career totals and a kill percentage. Catawba College's hall of fame honors a player who finished with 1,349 kills. The verb behind it is the unreturnable strike; the noun is what goes into the box score.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Players receive kills as a recorded volleyball statistic. fs.ncaa.org.s3.amazonaws.com
    • Volleyball records track career kills and kill percentage. catawba.edu
    • Catawba College's Sports Hall of Fame honors Monte Jackson Turner, who finished her volleyball career with 1,349 kills. catawba.edu

More uses

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of kill apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–15, 17–19

Middle English had killen, kyllen and cüllen, meaning "to strike, beat, cut", but where these came from is obscure. One idea is an unrecorded Old English *cyllan, which would trace through Proto-Germanic to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to throw, hit, hurt by throwing". Others see it as an altered form of Old English cwellan ("to kill"), or connect it with Old Norse kolla, meaning "to hit on the head, harm".

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

  • Middle English had the forms killen, kyllen and cüllen, meaning to strike, beat or cut. en.wiktionary.org
  • The origin of these Middle English forms is obscure. en.wiktionary.org
  • One proposed derivation is from unattested Old English *cyllan, through Proto-Germanic to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning to throw, hit or hurt by throwing. en.wiktionary.org
  • Another proposed derivation treats kill as a variant of Old English cwellan, meaning to kill. en.wiktionary.org
  • Another proposed derivation connects kill with Old Norse kolla, meaning to hit on the head or harm. en.wiktionary.org
Meaning 16

Proto-Germanic *kiljǭ developed into Proto-West Germanic *killjā, which became *killa in Old Dutch, kille in Middle Dutch, and kil in modern Dutch. English borrowed the Dutch word.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts