slay

English

/sleɪ/

verb
Definitions
  • (now) To kill, murder.
  • (literary) To eradicate or stamp out.
  • (by extension) To defeat, overcome (in a competition or contest).
  • (slang) To delight or overwhelm, especially with laughter.
  • (slang) To amaze, stun or otherwise incapacitate by awesomeness; to be awesome at something; to kill slang sense.
  • (slang) to have sex with

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English sleen inherited from Old English slēan (strike, beat, smite, slay, stamp, impact, kill, hit, sting, forge) inherited from *slahan inherited from Proto-Germanic *slahaną (strike, kill, hit, fight, beat) derived from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (throw, hit, strike).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*slak-

Gloss

throw, hit, strike

Concept
Semantic Field

Motion

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Emoji

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms