killing

comparative more killing · superlative most killing

1. That literally deprives of life; lethal, deadly, fatal.
2. datedidiomaticDevastatingly attractive.

   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, →OCLC

   1 more example

   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

3. idiomaticinformalThat makes one ‘die’ with laughter; very funny.

   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

plural killings

1. countableuncountableThe act of killing.

   In fact, Tarzan had never killed for “pleasure,” nor to him was there pleasure in killing.

   1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Numa ‘El Adrea’”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, pages 116–117

2. countableuncountableAn instance of someone being killed.

   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, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 180

   4 more examples

   A police officer in neighboring Mekit county told RFA he was informed that police were searching the houses for a suspect from Pichan (in Chinese, Shanshan) county in Xinjiang’s Turpan prefecture when the killings occurred.

   2013 April 24, Shohret Hoshur, Qiao Long, Hai Nan, Luisetta Mudie, Parameswaran Ponnudurai, “Xinjiang Violence Leaves 21 Dead”, in Dolkun Kamberi, Luisetta Mudie, Mamatjan Juma, transl., Radio Free Asia

   But the split-screen nature of this moment in his presidency was underscored when Mr. Trump devoted the first nine minutes of his speech to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent protests and riots unfolding in cities across the country.

   2020 May 30, Peter Baker, “Trump Hopes for His Own Booster Shot From SpaceX Rocket Launch”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 02 Jul 2020, retrieved 30 May 2020

   A man shot dead 12 people in a rampage in a small town in Montenegro before dying from self-inflicted injuries early on Thursday, authorities said, in one of the tiny Balkan nation’s worst mass killings.

   2025 January 1, Reuters, “Suspect in Montenegro shooting dies from self-inflicted injuries after killing at least 12 people”, in CNN

   In the first year of her administration, ACLED data shows, Sheinbaum’s efforts to contain violence have generally coincided with a drop in attacks against civilians; since January, civilian killings have declined in nearly every Mexican state.

   2025 August 18, Rocío Muñoz-Ledo, Avery Schmitz, Veronica Calderon, “A cartel war bleeding Sinaloa dry: homicides rise 400% in the year after the fall of ‘El Mayo’”, in CNN

3. countableinformaluncountableusuallyA large amount of money.

   He made a killing on the stock market.

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   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

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of kill

1. A surname.