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kill

Pronunciation: /ˈkɪl/

The English word “kill” has 20 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To put to death; to extinguish the life of.
  2. To render inoperative.
  3. To stop, cease, or render void; to terminate.
  4. To amaze, exceed, stun, or otherwise incapacitate.
  5. To cause great pain, discomfort, or distress to; to hurt.
  6. To produce feelings of dissatisfaction or revulsion in.
  7. To use up or to waste.
  8. To overpower, overwhelm, or defeat.
  9. To force a company out of business.
  10. To punish severely.
  11. 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.
  12. To cause (a ball, etc.) to be out of play, resulting in a stoppage of gameplay.
  13. To succeed with an audience, especially in comedy.
  14. To cause to assume the value zero.
  15. To disconnect (a user) involuntarily from the network.
  16. To deadmelt.
  17. To sexually penetrate in a skillful way.
  18. To exert oneself to an excessive degree.

noun

  1. The act of killing.
  2. Specifically, the death blow.

Etymology

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…

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