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Kill   /kɪl/   Listen
verb
Kill  v. t.  (past & past part. killed; pres. part. killing)  
1.
To deprive of life, animal or vegetable, in any manner or by any means; to render inanimate; to put to death; to slay. "Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words!"
2.
To destroy; to ruin; as, to kill one's chances; to kill the sale of a book. "To kill thine honor." "Her lively color kill'd with deadly cares."
3.
To cause to cease; to quell; to calm; to still; as, in seamen's language, a shower of rain kills the wind; new sound insultation killed the loud noises from outside. "Be comforted, good madam; the great rage, You see, is killed in him."
4.
To destroy the effect of; to counteract; to neutralize; as, alkali kills acid.
5.
To waste or spend unprofitably; usually used of time; as, he killed an hour waiting for the doctor to see him.
6.
To cancel or forbid publication of (a report, article, etc.), after it has been written; as, they killed the article after getting threats of a lawsuit.
To kill time, to busy one's self with something which occupies the attention, or makes the time pass without tediousness.
Synonyms: To murder; assassinate; slay; butcher; destroy. To Kill, Murder, Assassinate. To kill does not necessarily mean any more than to deprive of life. A man may kill another by accident or in self-defense, without the imputation of guilt. To murder is to kill with malicious forethought and intention. To assassinate is to murder suddenly and by stealth. The sheriff may kill without murdering; the duelist murders, but does not assassinate his antagonist; the assassin kills and murders.



noun
Kill  n.  A kiln. (Obs.)



Kill  n.  A channel or arm of the sea; a river; a stream; as, the channel between Staten Island and Bergen Neck is the Kill van Kull, or the Kills; used also in composition; as, Schuylkill, Catskill, etc.



Kill  n.  
1.
The act of killing. ""There is none like to me!" says the cub in the pride of his earliest kill."
2.
An animal killed in the hunt, as by a beast of prey. "If ye plunder his kill from a weaker, devour not all in thy pride."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Kill" Quotes from Famous Books



... was so ill-considered that it practically ended the whole campaign. The invaders fell upon and killed two ranchers—one of whom was probably not a rustler at all, but a peaceable settler, and the other one they most barbarously hanged. More than this, they attacked and vainly tried to kill two settlers whom they met on the road—German farmers, with no connection, so far as known, with the thieves. These men escaped, and gave the alarm. In a few hours the whole range was aflame with vengeful fire. The Forks, as you may recall, was like ...
— Cavanaugh: Forest Ranger - A Romance of the Mountain West • Hamlin Garland

... feet in diameter at the base, and rising to a height of three or four feet. When the natives discover one of these nests they surround it, treading firmly round the base in order to secure any outlet; they then remove the top of the cone, and, as the mice endeavour to escape, they kill them with the waddies which they use with such unfailing skill. When the nest is found by only a few natives, they set fire to the top of the cone, and thus secure the little animals with ease. For the last month ...
— Explorations in Australia, The Journals of John McDouall Stuart • John McDouall Stuart

... heard and said coolly: 'Tightstrung. I kept him fasting since he earned his breakfast. You don't wind an empty rascal fit for action. A sword through the lungs won't kill when there's ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... of warm and active friendship, and, of course, was not a little astounded and hurt when the young lady replied—"Surely, Miss Harewood, you cannot be ignorant that all our great medical practitioners torture and kill animals, for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of diseases, and, in many cases, undoubtedly for the purpose of learning how much suffering bodies of a certain size and texture are capable of enduring? Now I don't ...
— The Barbadoes Girl - A Tale for Young People • Mrs. Hofland

... consternation of the Greeks, presents much the same scene as the challenge of Goliath, 1 Samuel, ch. 17: "And he stood and cried to the armies of Israel;—Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants.—When Saul and all Israel heard the words of the Philistine, they were ...
— The Iliad of Homer - Translated into English Blank Verse • Homer


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