Kill
Kill is the act of causing the death of an organism, person, or animal, or the destruction of an inanimate object. It may also refer to:General meanings
As a verb
The verb "kill" primarily means to deprive a living organism of life, whether intentionally or as a consequence of actions. This encompasses the death of humans through homicide, animals via slaughter for food or other purposes, and even plants or microorganisms, as in the use of pesticides to eliminate weeds or herbicides to control microbial growth.[1][2] The word originates from Old English "cyllan" or "cwellan," meaning "to strike, beat, or kill," with deeper roots in Proto-Germanic "*kwellanan" (source also of Old Norse kvelja "to torment"), denoting suffering or torment, ultimately from PIE root "*gwel-" "to pierce, stab." Its earliest recorded use in English appears around 1225 in Middle English texts, such as the Ancrene Riwle, evolving from earlier Germanic terms associated with torment or physical blows.[3][2] Legally and ethically, killing humans is distinguished between unlawful acts like murder, which involves intent without justification, and lawful instances such as self-defense, where force is used to protect oneself or others from imminent harm, or euthanasia in jurisdictions where it is permitted to alleviate suffering. Globally, unlawful homicides claim approximately 458,000 lives annually (averaging 52 per hour), based on 2021 data from the UNODC Global Study on Homicide 2023, with trends remaining stable in subsequent years.[4][5][6][7] Common mechanisms include firearms, sharp objects, strangulation, and poisoning, varying by region but often tied to interpersonal conflicts or organized crime.[7] Historically, the term emerged in medieval contexts related to hunting, where it described the act of striking down game, as seen in 13th-century texts, and later extended to warfare by the early modern period, including metrics like "kill ratios" in military assessments to evaluate combat effectiveness.[3][7]As a noun
In its primary sense as a noun, "kill" refers to the act or instance of causing death, often intentionally, as in the termination of life through violence or intervention. This usage encompasses specific contexts such as a mercy kill, defined as the intentional ending of a person's life to relieve suffering from an incurable or painful condition, synonymous with euthanasia. The term can also denote the object of such an act, particularly the animal or prey that has been slain, as in "the hunter's kill," emphasizing the result rather than the process.[8] Additionally, "kill" describes a broader destructive event leading to widespread death, such as a disease kill-off, where a pathogen rapidly eliminates a population of organisms, exemplified by historical pandemics like the Black Death that killed an estimated 30-60% of Europe's population in the 14th century. In hunting and ecology, "kill" commonly signifies the harvested game in wildlife management, representing a regulated take to maintain population balances. For instance, in the United States, deer hunting results in annual kills averaging approximately 6 million animals, supporting conservation efforts by controlling overpopulation and funding habitat preservation through license fees.[9] These kills are tracked through mandatory reporting systems to ensure sustainable practices, contributing to ecological stability by preventing habitat degradation from excessive deer numbers.[10] Within military terminology, a "confirmed kill" denotes a verified enemy casualty, typically requiring physical evidence like a body or witness corroboration to count toward operational success metrics. During the Vietnam War, U.S. forces reported over 950,000 confirmed enemy kills, but these figures were plagued by accuracy issues, including widespread inflation through double-counting, misidentification of civilians, and pressure on troops to fabricate numbers for career advancement and public support.[11] Historians note that such discrepancies undermined strategic assessments, with independent estimates suggesting actual combatant deaths were closer to 500,000-800,000, highlighting systemic flaws in body count reporting.[12] Pathological uses of "kill" extend to mass mortality events triggered by health crises or environmental factors, framing large-scale losses as collective outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic, for example, resulted in over 7.1 million confirmed global deaths as of November 2025, according to World Health Organization data, though excess mortality analyses estimate the true toll at 18-21 million due to underreporting in overwhelmed systems.[13] Similarly, fish kills—sudden die-offs of aquatic species—often stem from pollution, such as industrial waste discharges; a 2024 incident in Brazil's São Paulo state saw 10 to 20 tons of fish perish in the Tietê River from alleged ethanol plant effluent, illustrating how toxic spills disrupt ecosystems and bioaccumulate contaminants.[14] These events underscore the noun's role in denoting irreversible losses with cascading ecological and economic impacts.Idiomatic and figurative uses
Everyday expressions
The idiom "kill time" refers to passing time idly or engaging in unimportant activities to make waiting more bearable, often originating from 19th-century theater slang where actors would improvise to fill delays in performances.[15] This expression, first recorded in print in 1751 by Samuel Richardson, conveys a sense of time as an adversary to be subdued during periods of boredom.[15] Another common phrase, "dress to kill," means to attire oneself in strikingly attractive or stylish clothing intended to impress or captivate others, with roots in early 19th-century hyperbolic language emphasizing extreme elegance.[16] The proverb "kill two birds with one stone," denoting the achievement of two objectives through a single action, dates to the 17th century and first appeared in written form in 1656 in Thomas Hobbes's work The Questions Concerning Liberty, Necessity, and Chance.[17] In positive connotations, "kill it" is slang for performing exceptionally well in a task, such as a presentation or musical number, emerging in American English during the late 20th century as a term of high praise in informal contexts.[18] Similarly, "curiosity killed the cat" serves as a cautionary proverb warning against excessive prying or inquisitiveness, evolving from the 16th-century expression "care killed the cat" recorded in 1598 and mutating to its modern form by the early 20th century.[19] On a more neutral or negative note, "kill the vibe" describes actions that ruin an enjoyable atmosphere or mood, a piece of modern U.S. internet slang popularized in the 2010s through casual online discourse. In British English, "kill or cure" refers to a drastic measure that could either resolve a problem completely or exacerbate it severely, with origins in mid-18th-century medical contexts where treatments posed high risks.[20] The word "kill" in everyday expressions has influenced advertising, notably in terms like "painkiller," coined in 1849 to describe substances that eliminate pain, framing relief as a form of destruction against discomfort.[21] With the rise of social media, hyperbolic uses such as "kill me now" have evolved into memes expressing exaggerated frustration or embarrassment, often in relatable scenarios like awkward encounters, gaining traction since the early 2010s on platforms like Twitter and Reddit.[22]Technical applications
In petroleum engineering, the term "kill line" refers to a high-pressure conduit connected to the blowout preventer (BOP) stack on an oil drilling rig, used to pump heavy drilling mud or kill fluid into the wellbore to restore hydrostatic balance and suppress uncontrolled fluid influx, thereby preventing blowouts.[23] This component is integral to the well control system, allowing operators to circulate kill fluid downward through the kill line, along the drill string or annulus, and out via the choke line to safely regain control during pressure imbalances.[24] Kill lines have been a standard feature in drilling operations since the development of early BOP systems in the 1920s, when James S. Abercrombie and Harry S. Cameron patented the first ram-type preventer to address gusher risks in high-pressure wells. In radiation oncology, a "kill dose" denotes the prescribed radiation level intended to achieve sufficient cell death in tumor tissue for local control, typically calibrated to the 50-70 Gy range for many solid malignancies based on tumor type, stage, and fractionation schedules outlined in contemporary guidelines.[25] For instance, definitive radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer often targets 60 Gy in 30 fractions to maximize tumoricidal effects while sparing adjacent healthy tissue, as recommended by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in updated protocols emphasizing biologically effective dose calculations.[26] These doses are determined through linear-quadratic models assessing alpha/beta ratios for cancer cells (often 10 Gy), ensuring probabilistic cell kill exceeds 90% for microscopic disease eradication without excessive normal tissue complication probability.[27] In agricultural practices, "kill weed" terminology applies to herbicides designed for total plant lethality, with glyphosate serving as a prominent systemic agent that disrupts the shikimate pathway by inhibiting 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), leading to amino acid starvation and broad-spectrum weed death within 7-14 days post-application. First registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1974 for non-selective weed control in crops and non-crop areas, glyphosate's use is governed by regulations limiting application rates to 0.75-3.75 kg acid equivalent per hectare annually, with mandatory buffer zones near water bodies to mitigate runoff risks.[28] Its efficacy as a "kill agent" stems from translocation to roots and meristems, enabling pre- and post-emergence control of perennials like johnsongrass, though resistance management now requires integrated strategies per EPA reregistration reviews. In automotive racing, a "kill switch" is a driver-accessible emergency device that instantly cuts engine ignition or fuel flow to halt propulsion during malfunctions like stuck throttles, enhancing safety by reducing impact severity in high-speed incidents.[29] In NASCAR, these thumb-operated switches mounted on steering wheels became mandatory across Cup, Xfinity, and Truck Series vehicles in August 2000, following fatal crashes involving Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin due to unintended acceleration, marking a pivotal upgrade in series-wide safety protocols.[30] Distinct from standard vehicle ignition cutoffs, racing kill switches prioritize rapid activation (under 0.1 seconds) and integration with fire suppression systems.Geography
Bodies of water
In geography, particularly in the northeastern United States, "kill" refers to a body of water such as a creek, stream, tidal inlet, or channel, distinct from any connotation of death. The term originates from the Middle Dutch word "kil" or "kille," meaning a riverbed, water channel, or creek.[31] It was brought to North America by Dutch settlers in the 17th century during the colonization of New Netherland, encompassing present-day New York and New Jersey, where it described various waterways essential for navigation, trade, and settlement.[32] Numerous streams and inlets in the region bear this name, with over 20 documented in New York alone, reflecting the enduring Dutch linguistic influence on local hydrology.[33] Prominent examples include Catskill Creek, a major tributary of the Hudson River in Greene County, New York, named from the Dutch "Kats Kil" for "cat's creek" due to bobcat populations along its banks.[34] The Poesten Kill, originating in Rensselaer County near Troy, New York, flows westward for approximately 26 miles into the Hudson, supporting local ecosystems through its watershed.[35] In Queens, New York, Dutch Kills is a historic waterway now heavily industrialized, originally a small stream used for early milling and agriculture since Dutch settlement in 1642.[36] Tidal kills play a vital ecological role in the Hudson River estuary, acting as nurseries for fish species, habitats for wetland vegetation, and corridors for migratory birds and aquatic life.[37] They enhance biodiversity by filtering pollutants and stabilizing shorelines against erosion, though many face environmental challenges from urbanization and pollution. For instance, the Arthur Kill, a tidal strait separating Staten Island from New Jersey, suffered significant oil spills in the 1990s, including a 1990 Exxon pipeline rupture that released 567,000 gallons of No. 2 heating oil, impacting local fisheries and wetlands.[38] Historically, kills facilitated key shipping and trade routes; the Kill Van Kull, connecting Upper New York Bay to Newark Bay, has served as a critical maritime channel for container ships accessing Port Newark-Elizabeth since colonial times. In recent years, conservation efforts have focused on restoring these waterways, with projects like the 2025 Kleine Kill Stream Restoration in Ulster County receiving $1.1 million to rehabilitate habitats and improve resiliency against climate impacts.[39] Broader initiatives under the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Hudson River Estuary Program have awarded over $2.7 million in 2025 grants for tributary restoration, emphasizing water quality and ecosystem recovery.[40]Settlements
The name "Kill" in Irish placenames derives from the Gaelic word cill, meaning "church" or "monastery," reflecting the influence of early Christian settlements established between the 5th and 12th centuries.[41] This element is prevalent in Ireland due to the proliferation of monastic sites during the early medieval period, when missionaries founded numerous small religious communities across the landscape.[42] In the Republic of Ireland, several settlements bear the name Kill, often as townlands or small villages tied to historical ecclesiastical origins. Kill in County Waterford is a small coastal village within the Copper Coast UNESCO Global Geopark, with a population of 349 as recorded in the 2022 census; it features scenic landscapes and proximity to hiking trails along the geopark's cliffs, attracting tourists interested in geological and historical sites.[43][44] Kill in County Kildare, located near Naas, functions primarily as a townland within the civil parish of the same name, encompassing rural areas with remnants of early church structures dating to the medieval era.[45] Further north, Kill in County Cavan is a rural townland in the civil parish of Crosserlough, barony of Clanmahon, known for its historical church ruins that trace back to at least the 16th century, including associated graveyards that highlight local burial traditions.[46][47] In the United Kingdom, specifically Northern Ireland, Kill appears as townlands with similar Gaelic roots. Kill in County Antrim is a small rural townland, part of the broader pattern of church-derived names in the region, though it remains sparsely populated and agriculturally focused.[48] Kill in County Down, situated near Strangford Lough, has medieval origins linked to early ecclesiastical foundations along the lough's shores, contributing to the area's historical maritime and religious heritage. Globally, direct instances of settlements named Kill are rare outside Ireland, with no prominent locality by that exact name identified in Germany; however, Irish diaspora influences have occasionally led to similar naming conventions in the United States, though exact "Kill" settlements are uncommon and typically indirect adaptations rather than direct transplants.[42] Demographically, many Kill settlements exemplify broader trends of rural depopulation in Ireland, where populations in remote areas have declined due to emigration and low birth rates, with the national rural population growth lagging behind urban centers—rising only modestly by about 8% overall from 2016 to 2022 while facing challenges like a 20% drop in birth rates over the past decade.[49] Historically, these areas preserve cultural sites such as church ruins and graveyards, which draw limited tourism focused on heritage rather than mass visitation, underscoring their role in maintaining Ireland's early Christian legacy amid ongoing rural shifts.[50]Entertainment
Film and television
In film and television, the word "kill" frequently titles works centered on themes of vengeance, justice, and moral ambiguity, particularly in action thrillers and dramas that explore the consequences of violence.[51] The 2024 Indian Hindi-language action thriller Kill, directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, follows an army commando who boards a train to New Delhi to stop his fiancée's arranged marriage, only for the journey to be hijacked by a gang of dacoits, leading to intense hand-to-hand combat in confined spaces.[52] Starring Lakshya in the lead role alongside Raghav Juyal and Tanya Maniktala, the film emphasizes raw, visceral fight choreography inspired by real-time train assaults, earning praise for its relentless pacing and gore.[53] Produced by Karan Johar and others, Kill was made on a budget of approximately ₹40 crore and grossed ₹47.12 crore worldwide, marking a commercial success despite limited theatrical reach.[54][55] Another 2024 film titled Kill is a Scottish thriller directed by Jared Erskine, centering on three brothers and their abusive father on a remote hunting trip where the siblings plot to kill him, exploring family trauma and suspense in a forest setting. It premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and received acclaim for its tense atmosphere and performances.[56] Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Volume 2 (2004) form a two-part martial arts saga starring Uma Thurman as the Bride, a former assassin emerging from a coma to systematically eliminate her betrayers, culminating in a confrontation with her ex-lover Bill (David Carradine).[57] The films blend spaghetti Western aesthetics, Hong Kong kung fu tropes, and Japanese anime influences, with iconic sequences like the House of Blue Leaves sword fight showcasing Tarantino's stylistic homage to global cinema.[58] Culturally, Kill Bill revitalized the revenge genre in Hollywood, influencing subsequent action blockbusters by prioritizing female-led narratives and stylized violence, while grossing over $333 million combined and cementing Tarantino's reputation for genre pastiche.[59] Adaptations of literary works have also prominently featured "kill" in their titles, underscoring ethical dilemmas around killing. The 1962 drama To Kill a Mockingbird, directed by Robert Mulligan and adapted from Harper Lee's novel, depicts attorney Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) defending a Black man falsely accused of rape in Depression-era Alabama, highlighting racial prejudice through the eyes of his children.[60] The film won three Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Peck, and remains a cornerstone of cinematic explorations of Southern injustice.[61] Similarly, the 1996 legal thriller A Time to Kill, directed by Joel Schumacher and based on John Grisham's novel, centers on a Mississippi father (Samuel L. Jackson) who murders the white men who raped his daughter, with young lawyer Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) arguing self-justice in a racially charged trial.[62] Featuring Sandra Bullock and Kevin Spacey, it examines vigilante retribution amid systemic bias, earning a 66% approval on Rotten Tomatoes for its tense courtroom dynamics.[63] On television, The Killing (2011–2014), an American adaptation of the Danish series Forbrydelsen, aired on AMC for two seasons before moving to Netflix for two more, chronicling detectives Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman) investigating the murder of teenager Rosie Larsen in rainy Seattle.[64] The series spans 44 episodes across four seasons, interweaving the case with political intrigue and family grief, and received acclaim for its atmospheric depiction of perpetual drizzle enhancing the noir mood—though critics noted it exaggerated Seattle's weather for dramatic effect.[65] With a 68% Rotten Tomatoes score, The Killing influenced slow-burn crime procedurals by prioritizing character depth over rapid resolutions.[66] In 2025, the horror film Kill Me Again, directed by Simon Lewis, follows a serial killer known as the Midnight Mangler trapped reliving the same violent night at a roadside diner, blending time-loop elements with slasher tropes and earning a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes for its inventive narrative and suspense.[67] An English-language remake of the 2024 Kill is in development for Lionsgate, produced by Chad Stahelski's 87Eleven Entertainment (known for the John Wick series), aiming to adapt the train hijacking premise for Western audiences with enhanced action sequences.[68] Post-2000, the inclusion of "kill" in film titles has surged within action and revenge genres, evoking immediate connotations of high-stakes violence and moral reckoning, as seen in Kill Bill's box-office success and its ripple effects on franchises like John Wick.[69] This trend reflects broader shifts toward stylized, female-empowered narratives in global cinema, amplifying cultural discussions on retribution.[58]Music and literature
In music, the term "kill" frequently appears in band names, song titles, and lyrics to evoke intensity, rebellion, or transformation. The Kills, an indie rock duo formed in 2000 by American vocalist Alison Mosshart and British guitarist Jamie Hince, exemplify this through their raw garage rock sound characterized by minimalist instrumentation and themes of desire and tension.[70][71] Their debut album, Keep on Your Mean Side (2003), established their gritty style, blending blues influences with lo-fi production to create a visceral listening experience that has influenced subsequent garage revival acts.[70] Similarly, Killswitch Engage, a metalcore band founded in 1999 in Westfield, Massachusetts, uses "kill" to symbolize inner struggle and resilience in their aggressive, melodic compositions. Their breakthrough album, Alive or Just Breathing (2002), featured soaring clean vocals juxtaposed with heavy breakdowns, helping define the early 2000s metalcore scene and earning critical acclaim for its emotional depth. The band received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance in 2020 for the track "The Signal Fire" from their album Atonement, underscoring their enduring impact on heavy music.[72] Notable songs incorporating "kill" often explore satire, danger, or defiance. Eminem's "Kill You" (2000), from The Marshall Mathers LP, satirizes media expectations of violence in rap by exaggerating misogynistic tropes to critique societal pressures on artists, blending humor with shock value to provoke discussion on fame and aggression.[73][74] Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" (1985), the theme for the James Bond film of the same name, reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, using espionage motifs to convey seductive peril while achieving commercial success as the only Bond theme to top the U.S. chart.[75][76] In literature, "kill" titles delve into psychological and societal depths. Stephen White's Kill Me (2006), a psychological thriller in the Alan Gregory series, examines euthanasia and mortality through a terminally ill protagonist's encounter with a secretive organization offering assisted death, raising ethical questions about autonomy and suffering.[77] Émile Zola's The Kill (original French: La Curée, 1872; English translation 1957), the second novel in the Rougon-Macquart cycle, portrays the corrupting influence of greed during the Second French Empire's urban transformation in Paris, focusing on speculator Aristide Saccard's ruthless ambition and its destructive toll on family bonds.[78] Ernest Hemingway's short story "The Killers" (1927), first published in Scribner's Magazine, centers on two hitmen targeting a former boxer in a tense diner confrontation, exploring themes of inevitable fate and stoic acceptance in the face of violence. Thematically, "kill" in music and literature often signifies empowerment or protest against oppression. Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" (2011) reinterprets adversity as a catalyst for resilience, with lyrics affirming personal growth through hardship, resonating as an anthem for overcoming emotional turmoil.[79] Post-2020, tracks like H.E.R.'s "I Can't Breathe" (2020) invoke "kill" implicitly through references to police violence, channeling grief from events like George Floyd's death into calls for racial justice and systemic change.[80] Soundtracks incorporating such motifs, like Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003), have achieved significant commercial reach, selling over 800,000 copies worldwide and amplifying themes of vengeance through eclectic curation.[81]Sports
Volleyball and basketball
In volleyball, a "kill" refers to a successful attack—such as a spike, tip, or dump—that results in a point for the attacking team by landing untouched on the opponent's court or becoming irretrievable after contact with the defense.[82] This term, originating from the Filipino "bomba" for powerful attacks in the early 20th century, became standardized in international play following the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB)'s founding in 1947, which formalized rules for attack hits under Rule 13 of the official volleyball rules.[83] According to FIVB regulations, an attack hit directs the ball toward the opponent with force, excluding serves and blocks, and scores when the ball lands on the opponent's court or the opponent commits a fault.[84] Kill statistics are central to evaluating offensive performance, with kill percentage calculated as the number of kills divided by total attacks. Elite players typically achieve kill percentages above 30%, such as .300 or higher, indicating efficient scoring against strong defenses; for instance, top NCAA Division I middle blockers like Jacksonville's Haley Yount posted .463 in the 2025 season.[85][86] A related metric, the kill block, occurs when a block directly causes the ball to hit the floor or go out of bounds on the opponent's side, distinct from defensive digs that keep the rally alive. In the 2024 Paris Olympics, U.S. middle blocker Taylor Averill exemplified this with 15 blocks, including several kill blocks that contributed to bronze medal efforts by deflecting attacks into enemy territory. In basketball, a "kill shot" describes a momentum-shifting scoring run of 10 or more unanswered points, often a 10-0 burst that alters game dynamics.[87] According to basketball analytics, teams executing at least one kill shot win 71% of games, rising to 81% when they outpace opponents in such runs; NBA teams adopting similar burst strategies, per advanced metrics, see comparable edges in playoff contention.[87] Historically, Duke's 2019 Final Four run featured multiple such surges, including a 14-0 spurt against UCF in the second round that erased a deficit and secured victory.[88] Training for kills emphasizes technique and explosiveness. In volleyball, players develop approach jumps reaching 3 meters or more in total spike height for elite males, involving a three-step buildup to generate vertical lift and arm swing power for clean hits above the net.[89] Basketball kill shots often rely on isolation plays, where a star player receives a clear-out screen to exploit 1-on-1 matchups, driving for layups or pull-ups to initiate runs, as seen in structured sets like post isolations with ball screens.[90]Other contexts
In combat sports such as boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA), a "kill shot" refers to a decisive knockout punch that ends the fight abruptly by rendering the opponent unconscious.[91] This terminology highlights the high-impact nature of such strikes, often delivered with precision to the head or body. For example, in 1986, Mike Tyson secured multiple knockout victories en route to his first world heavyweight title, winning 13 fights that year, many by stoppage.[92] In the UFC, approximately 30.8% of fights in 2023 concluded via knockout or technical knockout, underscoring the prevalence of these finishes in professional bouts.[93] Regulations strictly prohibit excessive force or any intent to cause permanent harm, as outlined in the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts amended in July 2024, which emphasize fighter safety and fair competition through fouls like illegal strikes leading to disqualification.[94] In extreme individual sports like surfing, "kill" appears in slang to describe dominating or overpowering challenging conditions, such as "killing it" on a wave to denote exceptional performance.[95] Pioneered in the 1990s by athletes like Kelly Slater, aerial maneuvers—including radical flips and rotations—elevated the sport's technical demands, often executed on massive waves to showcase control and risk.[96] These high-stakes rides, sometimes referred to as overpowering or "killed" waves in surfer vernacular, involve navigating turbulent sections where surfers assert dominance over the ocean's force.[97] In hunting sports, particularly archery, the "kill zone" denotes the vital anatomical area on game animals targeted for ethical, quick harvests, typically the heart-lung region measuring about 8 inches in diameter for deer to ensure humane kills.[98] This precision aligns with established ethical guidelines, such as those from the Pope and Young Club, founded in 1961, which promote fair chase principles including accurate shot placement to minimize suffering.[99] The International Bowhunting Organization (IBO), established in 1984, further advances these standards through education on responsible practices and conservation.[100] Fatal incidents in these activities remain rare, emphasizing the role of safety protocols; for instance, U.S. hunting accidents result in approximately 100 fatalities annually, a decline attributed to mandatory education and equipment standards as tracked by wildlife agencies.[101]Other uses
Computing and technology
In computing and technology, the term "kill" primarily denotes the deliberate termination of software processes, threads, or system resources to manage execution, free memory, or enforce security. This concept originated in the early development of Unix at Bell Labs, where signals were introduced in the 1970s as a mechanism for inter-process communication and control, including process termination. The kill utility, a core command-line tool in Unix-like systems, sends signals to specified processes identified by their process ID (PID), enabling administrators and programs to stop running tasks efficiently.[102] The kill command defaults to sending the SIGTERM signal (signal 15), which requests a process to terminate gracefully, allowing it to perform cleanup operations such as closing files or saving state before exiting.[102] For more forceful termination, the optionkill -9 PID dispatches SIGKILL (signal 9), which immediately halts the process without opportunity for cleanup, as it cannot be caught, blocked, or ignored by the application.[102] This utility has been standardized in POSIX.1 since 1988, ensuring portability across compliant operating systems like Linux and macOS.[102] Improper use of kill, particularly SIGKILL, can lead to issues like zombie processes—terminated child processes that remain in the process table until the parent acknowledges their exit status via a wait system call.
In programming languages, kill-like functionality extends to managing threads and processes programmatically. For instance, Python's os.kill(pid, signal.SIGTERM) function invokes the underlying system kill call to send signals to a target process, facilitating automated termination in scripts or applications.[103] Similarly, in C++, the POSIX pthread_kill(thread, sig) function delivers signals to a specific thread within a process, useful for coordinated shutdowns in multithreaded environments, though threads cannot be killed directly without risking resource leaks.[104] These mechanisms require careful error handling to avoid orphaned resources or incomplete cleanups, such as reaping zombie processes promptly to prevent system resource exhaustion.
In mobile and enterprise technology, "kill switch" features enable remote disabling of applications or devices for security purposes. Android Enterprise, launched in 2015 as an evolution of Android for Work, allows mobile device management (MDM) solutions to remotely suspend or uninstall apps via APIs like DevicePolicyManager.setPackagesSuspended(), protecting sensitive data in corporate environments. This is commonly used in enterprise security to revoke access to compromised or unauthorized apps without physical intervention.[105]
In modern cloud computing, kill operations underpin auto-scaling by terminating virtual instances when demand decreases. For example, Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling groups automatically terminate ("kill") instances during scale-in events, using lifecycle hooks to allow graceful shutdowns and resource release, optimizing costs and performance in data centers.[106]