kill.
To put to death; to extinguish the life of.
Meaning & usage
To put to death; to extinguish the life of.
Smoking kills more people each year than alcohol and hard drugs combined.
To render inoperative.
He killed the engine and turned off the headlights, but remained in the car, waiting.
To stop, cease, or render void; to terminate.
The editor decided to kill the story.
The news that a hurricane had destroyed our beach house killed our plans to sell it.
To amaze, exceed, stun, or otherwise incapacitate.
That night, she was dressed to kill.
That joke always kills me.
To cause great pain, discomfort, or distress to; to hurt.
These tight shoes are killing my feet.
You don't ever want to get rabies. The doctor will have to give you multiple shots and they really kill.
To produce feelings of dissatisfaction or revulsion in.
It kills me to throw out three whole turkeys, but I can't get anyone to take them and they've already started to go bad.
It kills me to learn how many poor people are practically starving in this country while rich moguls spend such outrageous amounts on useless luxuries.
To use up or to waste.
I'm just doing this to kill time.
To overpower, overwhelm, or defeat.
Look at the amount of destruction to the enemy base. We pretty much killed their ability to retaliate.
The team had absolutely killed their traditional rivals, and the local sports bars were raucous with celebrations.
To force a company out of business.
To punish severely.
My parents are going to kill me!
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.
To cause (a ball, etc.) to be out of play, resulting in a stoppage of gameplay.
To succeed with an audience, especially in comedy.
To cause to assume the value zero.
To disconnect (a user) involuntarily from the network.
To deadmelt.
To sexually penetrate in a skillful way.
To exert oneself to an excessive degree.
Don't kill yourself raking the leaves now; we're due for a windstorm tonight.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots kele, keil (“to kill”). * Perhaps from unattested 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”) (whence German Low German kellen, killen (“to hurt, injure, torment, vex”)), Middle High German kellen (“to torment; torture”).
The act of killing.
The assassin liked to make a clean kill, and thus favored small arms over explosives.
Specifically, the death blow.
The hunter delivered the kill with a pistol shot to the head.
The result of killing; that which has been killed.
The fox dragged its kill back to its den.
An instance of killing; a score on the tally of enemy personnel or vehicles killed or destroyed.
confirmed kills
A flying ace is usually one with five or more confirmed kills.
The grounding of the ball on the opponent's court, winning the rally.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots kele, keil (“to kill”). * Perhaps from unattested 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”) (whence German Low German kellen, killen (“to hurt, injure, torment, vex”)), Middle High German kellen (“to torment; torture”).
A creek or stream; (more loosely) any watercourse, such as a channel or arm of the sea.
The channel beyond Staten Island, which connects Newark Bay with Bergen Neck is the Kill van Kull, or the Kills.
A creek or stream; (more loosely) any watercourse, such as a channel or arm of the sea. In particular, a waterway with a name ending in kill, such as the Beaverkill or the East Kill.
We're gonna go flyfishing over in the kill.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵeyH-der. Proto-Indo-European *ǵi(H)-l-der. Proto-Germanic *kiljǭ Proto-West Germanic *killjā Old Dutch *killa Middle Dutch kille Dutch kilbor. English kill Borrowing from Dutch kil (formerly spelled kill), from Middle Dutch kille, from Old Dutch *killa, from Proto-West Germanic *killjā, from Proto-Germanic *kiljǭ (“fissure, slit; a type of stream, creek, channel”). Doublet of Kiel. Most place names with kill were derived entirely in Dutch, but many have been subsequently calqued into English or anglicized by folk etymology; for example, Motherkill and Murderkill both likely derive from Dutch *Modderkil (“Mud Creek”) (better preserved in Mudder Kill and Muddy Kill), originally having nothing to do with mothership or murder.
Alternative form of kiln.
Try it on your idea.
kill has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.