slay

slay
slay (v.) O.E. slean "to smite," also "to kill with a weapon" (class VI strong verb; past tense sloh, slog, pp. slagen), from P.Gmc. *slakhanan, from root *slog- "to hit" (Cf. O.N., O.Fris. sla, Dan. slaa, M.Du. slaen, Du. slaan, O.H.G. slahan, Ger. schlagen, Goth. slahan "to strike"), from PIE root *slak- "to strike" (Cf. M.Ir. pp. slactha "struck," slacc "sword"). Modern German cognate schlagen maintains the original sense of "to strike." Meaning "overwhelm with delight" (mid-14c.) preserves some of the wider range of meanings that the word once had, including also "to strike a spark" (O.E.).

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • Slay — may refer to: * Brandon Slay, former American Olympic wrestler * DJ Kay Slay (b. 1966), American hip hop DJ * Dwayne Slay (b. 1984), American football player * Francis G. Slay (b. 1955), mayor of St. Louis, Missouri, United States * Santa s Slay …   Wikipedia

  • Slay — Slay, v. t. [imp. {Slew}; p. p. {Slain}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Slaying}.] [OE. slan, sl?n, sleen, slee, AS. sle[ a]n to strike, beat, slay; akin to OFries. sl[=a], D. slaan, OS. & OHG. slahan, G. schlagen, Icel. sl[=a], Dan. slaae, Sw. sl?, Goth.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • slay´er — slay «slay», transitive verb, slew, slain, slay|ing. 1. to kill with violence: »A hunter slays wild animals. Jack slew the giant. Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands (I Samuel 18:7). SYNONYM(S) …   Useful english dictionary

  • slay — [ sleı ] (past tense slew [ slu ] ; past participle slain [ sleın ] ) verb transitive LITERARY to kill someone in a violent way: He was slain in battle in 673. a. INFORMAL to impress someone, especially by making them laugh: His jokes really slay …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • slay — I verb annihilate, assassinate, deprive of life, destroy, dispatch, dispose of, execute, exterminate, intentcere, interimere, kill, liquidate, massacre, murder, occidere, put to death, slaughter, take a life, terminate, victimize associated… …   Law dictionary

  • slay — [sleı] v past tense slew [slu:] past participle slain [sleın] [T] [: Old English; Origin: slean to hit, kill ] 1.) to kill someone used especially in newspapers 2.) AmE spoken informal to amuse someone a lot >slayer n …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • slay — *kill, murder, assassinate, dispatch, execute …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • slay — meaning ‘to kill’, has the past tense slew and the past participle slain. In BrE it has a literary flavour, but it is an ordinary word for violent killing in AmE, appearing in newspaper headlines such as Serial killer slays seven, which sometimes …   Modern English usage

  • slay — [v] kill annihilate, assassinate, butcher, cut off, destroy, dispatch, do*, do away with, do in*, down*, eliminate, erase, execute, exterminate, finish, hit, knock off*, liquidate, massacre, murder, neutralize, put away*, rub out*, slaughter,… …   New thesaurus

  • slay — ► VERB (past slew; past part. slain) 1) archaic or literary kill in a violent way. 2) N. Amer. murder. DERIVATIVES slayer noun. ORIGIN Old English …   English terms dictionary

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