Kill1, v. t.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. KILLED; p. pr. & vb. n. KILLING.] [O. Eng. quellen, A-S. cwellan, cwelian, to kill, torment, O. H. Ger. quellen, to torture, kill; N. H. Ger. quälen, D. kwellen, to torment. See QUELL.]
Sense 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. Shak.
Sense 2. To deaden; to quell; to calm; to still; as, in seamen’s language, a shower of rain kills the wind.
We are reconciled, and the first view shall kill all repetition. Shak.
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 in the meanest and most ignoble manner.
The fiery young hero who had overcome the Curiatii, being upbraided by his sister for having slain her lover, in the height of his resentment kills her. Addison.
Murder and executions are always transacted behind the scenes in the French theater. Addison.
On this vain hope, adulterers, thieves rely, And to this altar vile assassins fly. Jenyns.