slay

English

Etymology

From Middle English sleen, slayn, from Old English slēan ‎(“to strike, beat, smite, stamp, forge, sting, slay, kill, impact”), from Proto-Germanic *slahaną ‎(“to fight, strike, kill”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- ‎(“to hit, strike, throw”). Cognate with Dutch slaan ‎(“to beat, hit, strike”), Low German slaan ‎(“hit, strike”), German schlagen ‎(“to beat, hit, strike”), Danish and Swedish slå ‎(“to knock, beat, strike”), Icelandic slá ‎(“to strike”). Related to slaughter, onslaught.

Pronunciation

• enPR: slā, IPA^(key): /sleɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophones: sleigh, sley

Verb

slay ‎(third-person singular simple present slays, present participle slaying, simple past slew or slayed, past participle slain or slayed)

1. (now literary) To kill, murder.

   The knight slew the dragon.

   Our foes must all be slain.

2. (literary) To eradicate or stamp out.

   You must slay these thoughts.

3. (by extension, colloquial) To defeat, overcome (in a competition or contest).
   • 1956, “Giants Slay Bears in Pro Title Battle”, in Lodi News-Sentinel, 1956 December 31, page 8.
   • 1985, “Redskins slay Giants; Thiesmann shatters leg”, in The Gadsden Times, 1985 November 19, page D1-5.
   • 1993, Jack Curry, “Yanks’ Bullpen Falls Short Again”, in The New York Times, 1993 April 21:

     The Yankees were actually slayed by two former Yankees because Rich Gossage pitched one scoreless inning in relief of Eckersley to notch his first victory.

4. (slang) To delight or overwhelm, especially with laughter.

   Ha ha! You slay me!

5. (slang) To amaze, stun or otherwise incapacitate by awesomeness; to kill (slang sense).

Usage notes

• The alternative past tense and past participle form "slayed" is most strongly associated with the slang sense, "to delight or overwhelm":

  1929, Harry Charles Witwer, Yes Man's Land^[2], page 254:

  "Cutey, you slayed me !" grins Jackie, working fast. "I guess that's what made the rest of 'em look so bad — you was so good!"

• In recent use, "slayed" is also often found associated with the other senses as well. However, this is widely considered nonstandard.
• A review of US usage 2000-2009 in COCA suggests that "slayed" is increasing in popularity, but remains less common than "slew". It is very rare in UK usage (BNC).

Synonyms

• (to kill, murder): kill, murder, assassinate
• (to defeat, overcome): conquer, defeat, overcome
• (to overwhelm or delight): kill, hit it out of the park

Derived terms

• slayee
• slayer

Related terms

• onslaught
• slaughter
• self-slaughter

Translations

to kill, murder

• Arabic: ذَبَحَ ‎(ḏabaḥa), فَطَّسَ ‎(faṭṭasa), أَزْهَقَ ‎(ʾazhaqa), قَتَلَ (ar) ‎(qatala)
• Armenian: սպանել (hy) ‎(spanel)
• Belarusian: забіва́ць impf ‎(zabivácʹ), забі́ць pf ‎(zabícʹ)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 殺 (zh), 杀 (zh) ‎(shā), 謀殺 (zh), 谋杀 (zh) ‎(móushā), 殘殺, 残杀 (zh) ‎(cánshā)

• Dutch: doden (nl), vermoorden (nl)
• Egyptian: 𓆼𓏏𓃀 ‎(ḫꜣtb)
• Finnish: tappaa (fi), surmata (fi)
• French: tuer (fr), assassiner (fr), occire (fr)
• German: töten (de), umbringen (de), erschlagen (de)
• Hebrew: רָצַח (he) ‎(raṣáḥ)
• Hungarian: öl (hu)

• Icelandic: bana (is)
• Ido: ocidar (io)
• Italian: uccidere (it), assassinare (it)
• Japanese: 殺す (ja) ‎(korosu)
• Latin: occidō (la), interficiō (la)
• Latvian: kaut (lv)
• Lithuanian: nužudyti
• Portuguese: matar (pt), assassinar (pt)
• Russian: (perfective) уби́ть (ru) ‎(ubítʹ), (imperfective) убива́ть (ru) ‎(ubivátʹ)
• Spanish: matar (es), asesinar (es)
• Swedish: dräpa (sv), slå ihjäl (sv)
• Tok Pisin: kilim

Anagrams

• lays