The AI-powered English dictionary
present participle and gerund of kill examples
comparative more killing, superlative most killing
That literally deprives of life; lethal, deadly, fatal. examples
(dated) Devastatingly attractive. quotations examples
Should true Proportion ev'ry Mortal grace, / And Semetry be seen in ev'ry Face: / Beauty no longer would be thought divine, / Nor would its Charms with half the Lustre shine: / No courtly Dame a killing Look could boast, / If once the Foils of Homeliness were lost.
1756, Edward Ward, A Compleat and Humorous Account of All the Remarkable Clubs and Societies in the Cities of London and Westminster, page 134
He sprang to open the door for the ladies, when they retired, with the most killing grace […]
1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 5, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848
That makes one ‘die’ with laughter; very funny. quotations examples
Livia found her ‘killing’, and derived such amusement from her Martinique French that he was forced to enjoy her as well.
1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 471
countable and uncountable, plural killings
An instance of someone being killed. quotations examples
The outrage over the brutal killings of peaceful demonstrators in Lhasa in March 1989 quickly faded after the massacres in Beijing in June.
1992, Richard Nixon, “The Pacific Triangle”, in Seize the Moment, Simon & Schuster, page 180
(informal, usually as make a killing) A large amount of money. quotations examples
The result is, in the end, the superintendent agrees to hold up another race, and the victim arranges to obtain all the money he can get in order to bet it on a sure thing. When the great "killing" is made, and the stripped victim goes back to consult with the superintendent […]
1916, Melville Davisson Post, “The Man Hunters”, in The Saturday Evening Post