[kill] vb [ME, perh. fr. (assumed) OE cyllan; akin to OE cwellan to kill--more at quell] vt (14c) 1 a: to deprive of life b (1): to slaughter (as a hog) for food (2): to convert a food animal into (a kind of meat) by slaughtering
2. a: to put an end to "~ competition" b: defeat, veto "~ed the amendment" c: to mark for omission; also: delete 3 a: to destroy the vital or essential quality of "~ed the pain with drugs" b: to cause to stop "~ the motor" c: to check the flow of current through
4: to make a markedly favorable impression on "she ~ed the audience"
5: to get through uneventfully "~ time"; also: to get through (the time of a penalty) without being scored on "~ a penalty"
6. a: to cause extreme pain to b: to tire almost to the point of collapse 7: to hit (a shot) so hard in various games that a return is impossible 8: to consume (as a drink) totally ~ vi 1: to deprive one of life
2: to make a markedly favorable impression "was dressed to ~" syn kill, slay, murder, assassinate, dispatch, execute mean to deprive of life. kill merely states the fact of death caused by an agency in any manner "killed in an accident" "frost killed the plants". slay is a chiefly literary term implying deliberateness and violence but not necessarily motive "slew thousands of the Philistines". murder specif. implies stealth and motive and premeditation and therefore full moral responsibility "convicted of murdering a rival". assassinate applies to deliberate killing openly or secretly often for political motives "terrorists assassinated the Senator". dispatch stresses quickness and directness in putting to death "dispatched the sentry with one bullet". execute stresses putting to death as a legal penalty "executed by lethal gas".
[2]kill n (1814) 1: an act or instance of killing
2: something killed: as a (1): an animal shot in a hunt (2): animals killed in a hunt, season, or particular period of time b: an enemy unit (as an airplane or ship) destroyed by military action c: a return shot in any of various games (as badminton, handball, or table tennis) that is too hard for an opponent to handle [3]kill n, often cap [D kil] (1669): channel, creek--used chiefly in place names in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York