Kill

KILL, v.1 and sb.1 Var. dial. uses in Sc. Irel. Eng. and Amer. 1. v. In comb. (1) Kill-bastard, the common savin, Juniperus Sabina; (2) Kill-calf, one who kills calves, a butcher; (3) Kill-cow, a matter of consequence; a serious affair; also used attrib.; (4) Kill-cow-joy, a discourager, one who always looks on the dark side; (5) Kill-crow, see (3); (6) Kill-devil, (a) an artificial bait used in fishing, esp. for pike; (b) the swift, Cypselus apus; (7) Kill-drawing, the act of giving birth; (8) Kill-joy, see (4); (9) Kill-pint, a lover of beer; (10) Kill-priest, port wine; (11) Kill-the-beggar, a kind of whisky; (12) Kill-wart, the greater celandine, Chelidonium majus. (1) Yks. (B. & H.) (2) w.Wor. Whatn yer think I telled oud kill-cauf ─ our butcher? Berrow's Jrn. (Mar. 10, 1888). (3) Rxb. Yeneedna mind, I'm sure it's nae sic great kill-cow (Jam.). N.Cy.1, Nhb.1, Cum.1 Cum.4 n.Lin.1 An accident of a serious but somewhat humourous nature. ‘She'd laaid a lot o' cloäs up o' th' gress-plat to bleäch an' th' ohd soo rooted th' sty door oppen, an' her an' her pigs run an' shitted all oher 'em, so says I, Well this is a kill-coo for thĕ, missis.’ sw.Lin. It was being so far from her mother, that was the kill-cow (R.E.C.). w.Som.1 They zaid how that all the house was a burned down, but twadn no such kill-cow job arter all; the vire never come to none of the best rooms like. [Amer. Obsol. ‘He's no great killcow,’ i.e. he doesn't amount to much (of a person who thinks himself somebody), Dial. Notes (1896) I. 22.] (4) Lin.1 (5) Nhp.1 It's no great kill-crow. Oxf.1 This yer bad side o' mine's the kill-crow; if twuzn't fur ee I should suon be about agen, MS. add. w.Som.1 (6, a) Brks.1 Dev. Kill-divil there... 'll git ee a dish, Pulman Sketches (1842) 21, ed. 1853. (b) Cum.4 (7) Wm. (B.K.) (8) Som. Tryphena a kill-joy? The very idea was ridiculous, Raymond Tryphena (1895) 75. (9) Lin.1 (10) N.Cy.1 (11) Ir. Don't check but patronise their ‘Kill-the-Beggar,’ Hood Poems (1862-1863). (12) n.Dev. (B. & H.) 2. Phr. (1) to kill all a tract of land, to kill all the vermin on it; (2) kill a pig, to make holiday; (3) kill dead, to kill; (4) kill one's pig, to deal the finishing stroke, ‘to settle one's hash’; (5) kill the land, to practise any kind of farming which much reduces the fertility of the soil. (1) n.Lin.1 ‘I've killed all that farm real well now,’ was said by a mole-catcher. He meant that he had killed all the moles on the farm. (2) Wm. Just doon ta see if Neddy's wife Ull kill a pig wi' me! Spec. Dial. (1880) pt. ii. 47. (3) n.Cy. (J.W.) n.Dev. I should'nt rest until I'd killed it dead, Chanter Witch (1896) 42. [Amer. He kilt him dead, Dial. Notes (1896) I. 68.] (4) n.Cy. (J.W.), War.2 (5) n.Lin.1 Potatoes have quite killed the land, Young Agric. (1799) 145. 3. To overcome; to hurt badly. Sh.I. We're ower weel, bit kill'd wi' wark, Sh. News (July 2, 1898). Ir. Och... but I'm kilt wit you, Carleton Traits Peas. (ed. 1843) I. 416. N.I.1 The wean's kilt. s.Ir. Biddy was 'most kilt with the pain, Croker Leg. (1862) 40. Cum. I's kilt wi' that and gravel beath, Gilpin Sngs. (1866) 379. Yks. (J.W.) Lan. Kilt monny a time, Brierley Layrock (1864) xvi. Cor. His comrade was knocked backward, thrown into the bob-pit, and just killed. ... Obliged to be carried to his home, Hunt Pop. Rom. w.Engl. (1865) 97, ed. 1896. Hence Killer, sb. a finishing blow, a ‘settler.’ Per. This tirade was a perfect killer to auld Cocky Fenton. He said not a word more, Monteath Dunblane (1835) 92, ed. 1887. 4. sb. An attack. Nrf. He made a kill at the beef, and they all begun, Emerson Son of Fens (1892) 34: ‘A lot of chaps made a kill at me.’ ‘I made a kill at one on 'em,’ EMERSON Son of Fens 162. 5. Fig. Ruin, that which kills or ruins. Nrf. Now you have to go to shop for everything, and that's the kill of this country, Georgian Gossips in Cornh. Mag. (June 1900) 817.

KILL, sb.2 Sc. In phr. the kill of a stack, the opening left in a stack of corn or hay for the admission of air. Rxb. (Jam.)

KILL, sb.3 Or.I. A spring. See Keld. Fergusson Rambles (1884) 167.

KILL, v.2 Chs. A salt-making term: to weigh salt. Chs.1 Hence (1) Killer, sb., obsol., a man who weighs salt. Chs.1; (2) Killer-of-salt, sb., obs., an arbitrator between buyers and sellers of salt. Chs.1 Chs.3; (3) Killing-house, sb. a weighing-room. Chs.1

KILL, KILL-, see Keel, v. 3, Kiln, sb.1, Kell-.

KILL, KILL-, see Keel, v. 3, Kiln, sb.1, Kell-.