killer

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See also: Killer

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English killer, kyller. By surface analysis, kill +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkɪlə(ɹ)/, [ˈkʰɪlə(ɹ)]
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈkɪlɚ/, [ˈkʰɪɫlɚ]
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪlə(ɹ)

Noun

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killer (countable and uncountable, plural killers)

  1. One who or that which kills.
    Synonyms: assassin, murderer; see also Thesaurus:killer
    There’s a killer on the loose.
    My cat is a habitual bird killer.
    Carbon monoxide is a silent killer.
  2. (figuratively) That which causes stress or is extremely difficult, especially that which may cause failure at a task.
    That test was a killer.
    The final hill in the race course was a killer.
  3. (figuratively) Something that is so far ahead of its competition that it effectively kills off that competition.
    Digital streaming platforms are CD killers.
  4. (figuratively) A remarkably impressive person or thing.
    • 2020, “Intentions”, in Changes, performed by Justin Bieber ft. Quavo:
      Picture perfect, you don't need no filter / Gorgeous, make 'em drop dead, you're a killer
  5. (sports, uncountable) A knockout form of darts or pool involving several players.
  6. Ellipsis of killer whale.
    • 1966, Sarah Regal Riedman, Elton T. Gustafson, Home is the Sea: for Whales, page 116:
      There is, however, one species of whale that habitually preys upon other warm-blooded animals—the killer whale. Really a large dolphin, the killer was classified by Linnaeus as Orcinus orca, and by Cope as Grampus rectipinna.
  7. A club used for killing fish.
  8. (philately) A particularly heavy type of handstamp, or portion of one, often obscuring a large part of the postage stamp.
  9. Synonym of virama (“kind of diacritical mark”)
    • 1992, Andy Daniels, Joe Becker, “Unicode Technical Report #1 - Burmese, Khmer, and Ethiopia”, in Unicode Consortium‎[1]:
      In the course of its adaptation to non-Indo-Aryan languages, the Burmese script has acquired some features that distinguish it from other Indic scripts. The killer, or virama, participates in some common constructions that would be clumsy to handle the way they would be in the other Indic scripts, so the control function of the virama is separated from the diacritic function of the killer. The virama, 0F4D is used to form conjunct consonants, while the killer, 0F52, is a simple diacritic and has no effect on character shaping. The killer is also combined with the VOWEL SIGN O (0F4B) to form the low level tone vowel “o.” When used this way, this symbol is known as hyei hto, or “thrust forward.”
    • 2002, Richard Ishida, “An Introduction to Indic Scripts”, in W3C‎[2]:
      For example, although the ‘vowel killer’ diacritic may be called a ‘pulli’ in Tamil, it is still referred to by the Unicode character names as a ‘virama’.
    • 2002, David Smyth, Thai: An Essential Grammar:
      Thai words that have been borrowed from Sanskrit, Pali and English usually try to retain as much of the original spelling as possible; as this will often produce pronunciations that are impossible or misleading, a ‘killer’ symbol is placed above the redundant consonant to indicate that it may be ignored
    • 2002, David Smyth, Thai: An Essential Grammar:
      Sometimes the ‘killer’ sign, called kaaran in Thai, cancels out not only the consonant above which it appears, but also the one immediately preceding it.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → German: Killer
  • → Italian: killer
  • → Japanese: キラー (kirā)
  • → Russian: ки́ллер (kíller)

Translations

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Adjective

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killer (comparative more killer, superlative most killer)

  1. (slang) Excellent, very good, cool.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:excellent
    killer feature
    killer view
    • 1985, Dave Marsh, Fortunate Son: Criticism and Journalism by America's Best-known Rock Writer‎[3], Random House, →ISBN, page 224:
      It all says that Elephant's Memory is a killer band.
    • 2000, Various authors, The tablet, page 798:
      This is followed by a recipe for that very killer dish: "Eat and remember this, the greediest of all Popes" is their merry exhortation.
    • 2009, Amy Bryant, The Great Scavenger Hunt, →ISBN, page 122:
      “Ahhh, Avery,” shouted the Yurtmeister after a full hour of intense volleyball. “That last serve was absolutely killer.”
    • 2010, Al Burian, Burn Collector: Collected Stories from One Through Nine, →ISBN:
      However, there is something very killer about drinking whatever battery acid and paint thinner concoction it is that they make malt liquor out of, in broad daylight, slumped down on the pavement
    • 2016, Kit Moulton, Annabella, page 108:
      That girl was dynamite. Dark hair with killer blue eyes, bronze skin, and an exquisite full-figured body.
  2. Causing death, destruction, or obliteration.
    killer bee
    killer robot
  3. Distressing, uncomfortable.
    I had a killer headache this morning.

Usage notes

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  • In the sense of causing death or distress, killer is usually used attributively.

Derived terms

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See also

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Anagrams

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Chinese

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Etymology

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From English killer.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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killer

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, university slang) professor who is known for often giving students failing grades
  2. (Hong Kong Cantonese) Mafia (party game)

Synonyms

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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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killer

  1. comparative degree of kil

Italian

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English killer.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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killer m (invariable)

  1. hitman (hired assassin)
    Synonym: sicario
    Ha ingaggiato un killer per non doversi sporcare le mani.
    He hired a hitman to not get his hands dirty.
  2. (chiefly journalistic) murderer, assassin
    Synonyms: assassino, omicida
    Trovato il killer del giornalista diciottenne.
    The killer of eighteen years old journalist has been found.
  3. Clipping of serial killer (“serial killer”).
    il killer delle ballerine ― the serial killer of the (female) dancers

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ killer in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Further reading

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  • killer in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Luxembourgish

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Adjective

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killer

  1. feminine dative of kill
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