killer, n.
Etymology: < kill v. + -er suffix1.
1.
a. One who or that which kills; a slayer, butcher.
1535 Bible
(Coverdale)
Tobit iii. 9
Thou kyller of thy huszbandes.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum
Kyller of mise and rattes, myoph[o]nos.
1696 Statutes (Scottish) c. 33
(title)
Act against killers of black fish, and destroyers of the fry and smolts of salmon.
1741 C. Middleton Hist. Life Cicero I. vi. 538
One Licinius, a killer of the victims for sacrifice.
1829 T. Carlyle Voltaire in Crit. & Misc. Ess.
(1872)
II. 131
He has his coat of darkness,..like that other Killer of Giants.
1872 O. W. Holmes Poet at Breakfast-table ix. 288
She is a killer and a cannibal among other insects.
1535—1872(Hide quotations)
b. fig. in various senses.
a1555 L. Saunders Let. in J. Foxe Actes & Monuments
(1563)
1047/1
Christ the killer of death.
1819 F. MacDonogh Hermit in London II. 170
She is the most desperate killer of time I ever met with.
1838 M. Howitt Birds & Flowers 80
What a killer of care, old tree, wert thou!
a1555—1838(Hide quotations)
c. In many combinations, as dragon-, giant-, lady-, lion-, pain-killer, etc.: see these words.
2.
a. A name of the grampus, Orcinus orca, and other ferocious cetaceans of kindred genera. In full, killer whale. Also fig.
1726 P. Dudley in Philos. Trans. 1725
(Royal Soc.)
33 265
These Killers are from twenty to thirty Feet long, and have Teeth in both Jaws... They..set upon a young Whale, and will bait him like so many Bull-dogs.
1884 G. B. Goode in G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I 17
The Killer Whales are known the world over by their destructive and savage habits.
1897 F. T. Bullen Cruise ‘Cachalot’ 196
A large bowhead rose near the ship... Three ‘Killers’ were attacking him at once, like wolves worrying a bull... The ‘Killer’ or Orca gladiator, is a true whale, but, like the cachalot, has teeth.
1921 E. R. G. R. Evans South with Scott v
We saw Sibbald's whale, Rorquals, and many killer whales.
1931 W. G. Carr By Guess & by God 89
The British had been developing the mechanical killer-whales since 1904, when, unescorted, a flotilla of A-boats engaged in fleet manœuvres.
1937 J. R. Norman & F. C. Fraser Giant Fishes, Whales & Dolphins xiii. 290
The colour of the Killer is well marked and is distinctive for the species. The back is black and the belly white.
1937 J. R. Norman & F. C. Fraser Giant Fishes, Whales & Dolphins xiii. 291
A feature unusual in cetaceans is the great discrepancy in size between the male and female Killer Whale.
1973 R. Burton Life & Death Whales i. 23
Killer whales live in small groups and feed mainly on fish but they also kill seals and other whales.
1726—1973(Hide quotations)
b. A locust-killing wasp. U.S.
1868 Amer. Naturalist 2 217
The ‘killer’ had seized one of our August locusts, and was endeavouring to rise from the ground with it.
1868—1868(Hide quotations)
3. An effective angler's bait.
1681 J. Chetham Angler's Vade Mecum xxxv. 142
An admirable Fly, and in great repute for a killer.
1787 T. Best Conc. Treat. Angling
(ed. 2)
109
There are likewise two Moths..great killers about twilight in a serene evening.
1867 F. Francis Bk. Angling v. 130
If he cannot find a killer among them his hopes of sport are very small.
1681—1867(Hide quotations)
4.
b. A contrivance for killing a large ferocious animal (e.g. a wolf, a shark); also, an explosive implement for the painless killing of cattle, horses, etc. Cf. humane adj. 1b.
1892 9th Ann. Rep. U.S. Bureau Amer. Ethnol. 1887–88 259
(heading)
Whalebone wolf-killers.
1901 Amer. Anthropologist 3 391
Eskimo and Samoan ‘Killers’.
1901 Morning Leader 18 Dec. 3/7
The deadly instrument known as ‘Greener's Killer’,..for the painless destruction of old and incapacitated horses, is the invention of the well-known gun manufacturer, Mr. W. W. Greener... The ‘killer’ consists of a noiseless explosive apparatus resembling a short rifled barrel, which contains a small cartridge with steel-pointed bullet.
1919 T. Hardy Let. 7 Nov. in One Rare Fair Woman
(1972)
187
I am a strange member of the Wessex Pig Society. I accepted the nomination entirely in the hope of helping to popularize the ‘killer’.
1968 A. Wilson Pract. Meat Inspection i. 1
Cattle are usually stunned by a captive-bolt pistol (Humane Killer). The types usually employed are..3. Schermer mechanical killer.
1892—1968(Hide quotations)
5. An agent used to neutralize the active property of anything, e.g. to neutralize a colour, to remove spots or stains, prevent pitch-stains on pine-boards, or the like.
1893 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang.
1893—1893(Hide quotations)
6. A cow, sheep, etc., that is killed or destined to be killed for food. Usually pl. colloq. (chiefly Austral. and N.Z.).
1897 I. Scott How I stole over 10,000 Sheep 9
‘You know the killers, don't you?’..i.e. the sheep the boss used for his own mutton at the house.
1907 W. H. Koebel Return of Joe 294
We were to be treated to a portion of a valuable stud ram for supper in place of the ordinary ‘killer’.
1931 V. Palmer Separate Lives 124
He had put it [sc. the bullock] among the herd of killers in the home paddock in the hope that the new overseer might use it for beef in mistake.
1937 Amer. Speech 12 104
As killing cattle or killers (cattle ready for killing) they are inferior to corn-fed stock.
1952 Coast to Coast 1951–2 210
One afternoon they had brought in some killers to the yards, and Murray went over to the kitchen for the bucket and the knives.
1972 P. Newton Sheep Thief iii. 27
The yarding of the killers..was regarded as a tryout for new dogs—with the stench of blood sheep are loth to approach the yard.
1897—1972(Hide quotations)
7.
a. An impressive, formidable, or excellent person or thing; one who ‘kills’ people (see kill v. 6a). Cf. ladykiller n. at lady n. Compounds 2e. slang (orig. U.S.).
[1900 Dial. Notes 2 44
Killer. 1. One who does things easily. 2. One who recites perfectly.]
1937 Metronome Apr. 55
That Zutie drummer-man is really a killer!
1940 Swing Jan. 26
Farewell Blues is another of those very fast killers.
1940 Swing May 10/3
I'm a killer with my new shepherd plaid suit.
1968 Blues Unlimited Sept. 6
‘They were going to put out some records, and Luther went to see about it’ said Percy, ‘his “Dust my broom” was sure a killer.’
1970 Melody Maker 19 Sept. 28/6
George Khan has a solo on the up-tempo passage of the same track which is an absolute killer.
1937—1970(Hide quotations)
b. attrib. or as adj. Very effective; excellent, ‘sensational’ (frequently applied to popular music). Cf. killer-diller n. slang.
1979 Melody Maker 12 May 26/2
That the band were going to deliver a killer set was evident.
1983 Washington Post 11 Nov. 37
It can be most easily compared with what Quincy Jones does when he isn't producing another killer album for someone else.
1986 City Limits 9 Oct. 17
Sometimes James Brown's albums stank, but there was always one killer track.
1979—1986(Hide quotations)
Compounds
C1. General attrib.
killer instinct n.
1931 Visct. Knebworth Boxing 78
He [sc. Dempsey] had more fighting spirit and more of the sheer killer instinct in him than was in all four of them rolled together.
1960 J. Fingleton Four Chukkas to Austral. vi. 64
Unless Peter May can instil into his men the killer-instinct they so plainly lack, the next two Tests..will be lost.
1973 Times 20 Feb. 12/2
Already he has given Oxford a lift with his drive, enthusiasm, attack and killer instinct.
1931—1973(Hide quotations)
C2.
killer submarine n. (see quot. 1955).
1955 M. Reifer Dict. New Words 116/2
Killer submarine, a small submarine designed for hunting down and sinking enemy submarines.
1960 Economist 31 Dec. 1378/2
The other kind of vessel that the Navy wants to build in larger numbers is the ‘killer’ submarine driven by atomic power and equipped with vastly improved sonar devices to seek out and destroy enemy submarines under water.
1955—1960(Hide quotations)
killer whale n. (see 2a above).
Draft additions May 2001
killer app n. (also Killer App) Computing colloq. = killer application n. at Additions.
1988 PC Week
(N.Y.)
24 May 39/1
Until we see those first two or three killer apps..few corporate customers will see much reason to begin to commit to OS/2.
1991 New Scientist 21 Sept. 35/2
The multimedia industry is still looking for what it calls a ‘Killer App’, a feature or application that will persuade us that we can't live without a unit.
1998 E. Davis TechGnosis vii. 203
In many ways, games are to digital technology what porno videos were to the VCR: the ‘killer app’ (or application) that, by stimulating gargantuan desires, creates a mass consumer market for a new media technology.
1988—1998(Hide quotations)
Draft additions May 2001
killer application n. Computing an application which is particularly significant or useful; a feature, function, or application of a new technology or product which is presented as virtually indispensable or much superior to rival products; also in extended use.
1987 PC Week 8 Sept. 107/2
Everybody has only one killer application. The secretary has a word processor. The manager has a spreadsheet.
1991 UnixWorld Dec. 30/3
The killer applications cost twice as much in unix versions for no reason other than greed.
1995 Guardian 26 May i. 21/4
The British public has given a thumbs-down to the notion that entertainment will provide a ‘killer application’, such as video-on-demand.
2000 Wall St. Jrnl. 18 Sept. a2/1
Power-plant builder Calpine Corp. thought it had the ‘killer application’ that Silicon Valley needed: a big, new power plant. After all, California is desperately short of electricity on hot days.
1987—2000(Hide quotations)
Draft additions June 2003
killer fact n. colloq. (chiefly Brit.) an irrefutable and decisive piece of evidence or information, esp. one on which an argument, policy, news story, etc., can convincingly be founded.
1994 Financial Times 21 Nov. 10/1
‘Killer facts’ are what the Conservative party needs if it is to win the next general election, according to a strategy paper produced by Mr John Maples, the party's deputy chairman and a former Treasury minister.
2002 Daily Tel. 2 Sept. 18/5
Making a successful political cause for an attack on Iraq requires..at least one killer fact. Saddam has to be shown either to have done something or to be intending something awful.
1994—2002(Hide quotations)
Draft additions March 2016
killer litter n. Singapore English objects thrown or falling from high-rise buildings, endangering people below.
1984 Straits Times
(Singapore)
5 Apr. 1/2
Join our drive against ‘killer litter’.
1997 Wall St. Jrnl. 3 Feb. b1/1
The string of high-rise defenestrations in Singapore comes despite a special killer-litter law that threatens high-rise trash tossers with imprisonment for as long as three months.
2011 S. Tsang & A. Perera Singapore at Random 27
As most Singaporeans live in HDB flats, it is important that residents play a part in an effort to eradicate killer litter.
1984—2011(Hide quotations)