2 N‑VAR Kidnap or a kidnap is the crime of taking someone away by force. □ He was charged with the kidnap of a 25 year-old woman.
kid|ney /k I dni/ (kidneys )
1 N‑COUNT Your kidneys are the organs in your body that take waste matter from your blood and send it out of your body as urine.
2 N‑VAR Kidneys are the kidneys of an animal, for example a lamb, calf, or pig, that are eaten as meat. □ …steak and kidney pie.
ki d|ney bean (kidney beans )
1 N‑COUNT [usu pl] Kidney beans are small, reddish-brown beans that are eaten as a vegetable. They are the seeds of a bean plant.
2 N‑COUNT [usu pl] Kidney beans are long, very narrow beans that are green in colour and are eaten as a vegetable. They grow on a tall climbing plant and are the cases that contain the seeds of the plant. [AM ] in BRIT, use French beans
kill ◆◆◆ /k I l/ (kills , killing , killed )
1 VERB If a person, animal, or other living thing is killed , something or someone causes them to die. □ [be V -ed] More than 1,000 people have been killed by the armed forces. □ [V pron-refl] He had attempted to kill himself on several occasions. □ [V n] The earthquake killed 62 people. □ [V ] Heroin can kill. ● kill|ing N‑UNCOUNT □ [+ of ] There is tension in the region following the killing of seven civilians.
2 N‑COUNT [usu sing] The act of killing an animal after hunting it is referred to as the kill . □ After the kill the men and old women collect in an open space and eat a meal of whale meat.
3 VERB If someone or something kills a project, activity, or idea, they completely destroy or end it. □ [V n] His objective was to kill the space station project altogether. ● PHRASAL VERB Kill off means the same as kill . □ [V P n] He would soon launch a second offensive, killing off the peace process. □ [V n P ] The Government's financial squeeze had killed the scheme off.
4 VERB If something kills pain, it weakens it so that it is no longer as strong as it was. □ [V n] He was forced to take opium to kill the pain.
5 VERB [only cont] If you say that something is killing you, you mean that it is causing you physical or emotional pain. [INFORMAL ] □ [V pron] My feet are killing me.
6 VERB If you say that you kill yourself to do something, you are emphasizing that you make a great effort to do it, even though it causes you a lot of trouble or suffering. [INFORMAL , EMPHASIS ] □ [V pron-refl] You shouldn't always have to kill yourself to do well.
7 VERB If you say that you will kill someone for something they have done, you are emphasizing that you are extremely angry with them. [EMPHASIS ] □ [V n] Tell Richard I'm going to kill him when I get hold of him.
8 VERB If you say that something will not kill you, you mean that it is not really as difficult or unpleasant as it might seem. [INFORMAL ] □ [V pron] Three or four more weeks won't kill me!
9 VERB If you are killing time, you are doing something because you have some time available, not because you really want to do it. □ [V n] I'm just killing time until I can talk to the other witnesses. □ [V n] To kill the hours while she waited, Ann worked in the garden. [Also V n v-ing]
10 PHRASE If you say that you will do something if it kills you, you are emphasizing that you are determined to do it even though it is extremely difficult or painful. [EMPHASIS ] □ I'll make this marriage work if it kills me.
11 PHRASE If you say that you killed yourself laughing , you are emphasizing that you laughed a lot because you thought something was extremely funny. [INFORMAL , EMPHASIS ]
12 PHRASE If you move in for the kill or if you close in for the kill , you take advantage of a changed situation in order to do something that you have been preparing to do. □ Seeing his chance, Dennis moved in for the kill.
13 to kill two birds with one stone → see bird
14 to be killed outright → see outright
▸ kill off
1 → see kill 3
2 PHRASAL VERB If you say that a group or an amount of something has been killed off , you mean that all of them or all of it have been killed or destroyed. □ [be V -ed P ] Their natural predators have been killed off. □ [V n P ] It is an effective treatment for the bacteria and does kill it off. □ [V P n] All blood products are now heat treated to kill off any infection.
kill|er ◆◇◇ /k I lə r / (killers )
1 N‑COUNT A killer is a person who has killed someone, or who intends to kill someone. □ The police are searching for his killers.
2 N‑COUNT You can refer to something that causes death or is likely to cause death as a killer . □ [+ of ] Heart disease is the biggest killer of men in most developed countries.
ki ll|er bee (killer bees ) N‑COUNT A killer bee is a type of bee which is very aggressive and likely to attack and sting people.
ki ll|er i n|stinct (killer instincts ) N‑VAR If you say that a sports player or politician has the killer instinct , you admire them for their toughness and determination to succeed. [APPROVAL ] □ He quit the sport when he realised he didn't have the killer instinct.
ki ll|er wha le (killer whales ) N‑COUNT A killer whale is a type of black and white whale.
kill|ing ◆◇◇ /k I l I ŋ/ (killings )
1 N‑COUNT A killing is an act of deliberately killing a person. □ This is a brutal killing.