- This article is about the ending of life. For the word of Dutch derivation, see Kill (body of water)
As an English language word: to deprive of life, to end, extinguish or terminate in a final manner (verb), or the result of this action (noun).
Literal Sense
The act of killing an animal or plant life form can be said to have occurred when an outside force, usually another life form, has done something to cause it to die.
When a human being is killed by the action or fault of another human being, this event is called a homicide.
Legal death happens when there is irreversible cessation of brain activity (cf. persistent vegetative state). Brain activity is a necessary condition to legal personhood, and, perhaps with the exception of the fetus, it is a sufficient condition for legal personhood. "It appears that once brain death has been determined … no criminal or civil liability will result from disconnecting the life-support devices." Dority v. Superior Court of San Bernardino County, 193 Cal.Rptr. 288, 291 (1983)
Superlative Sense
Generically, kill is used to emphasize an action which terminates something, renders it worthless, or puts it beyond use: kill the story; kill time; killfile. It also can be used as a superlative to describe something which defies comparison: "dressed to kill", "killer application" (software).
As a Noun
A kill, the object of killing, such as an animal that has been hunted, or an enemy aircraft that has been destroyed in combat.
Unix command
In Unix and Unix-like computer operating systems, kill is a command used to stop programs that are running on the computer, and to send other useful signals. See kill (Unix).
