kill

1 /kIl/ verb

1 MAKE SB/STH DIE (I, T) to make a living thing die: His parents were killed in a plane crash. | What's the best way to kill weeds? | Drug abuse can kill. | kill yourself: You're going to kill yourself on that motorcycle. | The jury returned a verdict that he killed himself with an overdose.

2 MAKE STH STOP/FAIL (T) to make something stop or fail, or turn off the power to something: Nothing that the doctor gives me kills the pain. | Quick! Kill the lights. | You've got to kill that story before it gets printed. (=prevent it being printed) | kill the conversation (=stop people talking) | kill a beer/bottle of wine etc AmE spoken (=finish drinking): Let's kill these beers and go. | kill the ball (=completely stop a fast moving ball) | kill your speed (=drive slowly)

3 BE ANGRY WITH SB (T) informal to be very angry with someone: Maria will kill me if I'm late again.

4 MAKE SB TIRED/SAD (T) to make someone feel extremely tired, unhappy etc: it kills me/her/them: It kills me to see him working so hard for nothing.

5 the suspense is killing me spoken used to say you are impatient to know the result of something

6 my head is/feet are etc killing me spoken used to say that a part of your body is hurting a lot: I've walked miles and my feet are killing me.

7 MAKE SB LAUGH (T) to make someone laugh a lot at something: You really killed them tonight, Frenchie! | kill yourself laughing (=laugh a lot)

8 it won't kill sb (to do something) spoken used when saying that someone could easily do something, and ought to do it: It wouldn't kill you to give me a bit of help.

9 kill time to do something that is not very useful or interesting while you are waiting for something to happen

10 kill two birds with one stone to achieve two things with one action

11 kill someone with kindness to be to kind to someone

12 SPOIL STH'S APPEARANCE (T) if something kills the way something else looks, the two things look wrong together: That hat kills her whole outfit.

13 it will kill or cure used to say that what you plan to do will either work very well or fail completely

14 kill the fatted calf to welcome someone home with a big meal etc after they have been away for a long time

-see also: dressed to kill dressed (4), kill the goose that lays the golden egg goose 1 (2) USAGE NOTE: KILL WORD CHOICE: kill, murder, execute, put to death, kill oneself, commit suicide, slaughter, assassinate, massacre Kill is the general word meaning to make someone or something die: My uncle was killed in a plane crash. | A sharp frost can kill young plants. Murder means to kill a someone deliberately and illegally: Davies is accused of murdering his wife and their three young children. If someone is killed legally as a punishment for a crime, they are executed or put to death. Should serial killers be executed? | Thousands of revolutionaries were put to death after the coup. If someone kills himself or herself, they commit suicide. Slaughter is the technical word for killing animals for food, leather etc but it is also used to describe the violent and unnecessary killing of a large number of people: Thousands of people are slaughtered every year in road accidents. To assassinate someone means to murder an important, famous, and usually powerful person for political reasons: Who really assassinated President Kennedy? To massacre means to kill large numbers of ordinary people, especially people who cannot defend themselves: Hundreds of men, women, and children were massacred in the attack. kill sth off phrasal verb (T) to cause the death of a lot of living things: Pollution is rapidly killing off plant life. 2 noun

1 the act of killing a hunted animal: The hawk's talons grip tight as it makes its kill.

2 move in/close in for the kill to come nearer to something and prepare to kill, defeat, or destroy: Enemy submarines were moving in for the kill. | be in at the kill (=watch something being killed, someone being defeated etc)

3 (singular) an animal killed by another animal, especially for food