kill
cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly
How often you will meet it
Rank 967 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 18,909 times across 139,755 chapters — 0.009% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 1,000 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
verb
- cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly This man killed several people when he tried to rob a bankThe farmer killed a pig for the holidays
- thwart the passage of also: shoot down, defeat, vote down, vote out kill a motionhe shot down the student's proposal
- end or extinguish by forceful means also: stamp out Stamp out poverty!
- be fatal cigarettes killdrunken driving kills
- be the source of great pain for These new shoes are killing me!
- overwhelm with hilarity, pleasure, or admiration The comedian was so funny, he was killing me!
kill in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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I should very likely come 'ome and 'arf kill you all in your beds.
Bill's Lapse Odd Craft, Part 4. · W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs · Chapter 1
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Prosperity and health are despised, and joy begins with privations which kill the body.
The Dream · Émile Zola · Chapter 1
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The wooers defer the plot to kill Telemachus, as the day is holy to Apollo.
The Odyssey of Homer · 751? BCE-651? BCE Homer · Chapter 1
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But the boy looked amazed: "Me kill him!" says he, "he eat me at one mouth:" meaning one mouthful.
The Life and Most Surprising Adventures · Daniel Defoe · Chapter 1
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The white man had no right to scourge the emancipated Negro, still less has he a right to kill him.
The Red Record Tabulated Statistics · Ida B. Wells-Barnett · Chapter 1