Also spelled killin
Meanings
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1
verb
To make a person, animal, or plant die.
The disease has killed thousands of people in the region.
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2
verb
To stop a machine or engine from working (informal).
He killed the engine and sat in silence.
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3
verb
To make someone feel extremely tired or in pain (informal).
My feet are killing me after that long walk.
Thesaurus
Common collocations
Etymology
From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots kele, keil (“to kill”). * Perhaps from unattested Old English *cyllan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwulljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwuljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to throw, hit, hurt by throwing”). * Or, possibly a variant of Old English cwellan (“to kill, murder, execute”) (see quell). * Or, from Old Norse kolla (“to hit on the head, harm”), related to Norwegian kylla (“to poll”), Middle Dutch kollen (“to knock down”), Icelandic kollur (“top, head”); see also coll, cole). Compa…