Dictionary
Find
in
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Translations

Click to move up the list of words
Slavic
Slavicize
slavish
Slavism
slavocracy
Slavonic
Slavophile
slaw
slay
slaying
SLBM
SLCM
SLE
sleaze
sleazebag
sleazy
sled
Click to move down the list of words
Print Preview
See pronunciation key
Search for "slays" in all of MSN Encarta
E-mail this entry
Blog about this entry on MSN Spaces
Download the MSN Encarta Right-Click Dictionary

slay

slay [ slay ] (past slew [ sloo ], past participle slain [ slayn ], present participle slay·ing, 3rd person present singular slays)


transitive verb 
Definition:
 
1. kill: to kill a person or animal ( formal or literary )
slew the beast with one stroke of his sword

2.  (past slayed, past participle slayed or slain) amuse somebody: to amuse somebody very much ( informal )

[ Old English slēan< Germanic, "strike"]

slay·er noun

Spelling Note

Do not confuse the spelling of slay and sleigh, which sound similar. Slay is a verb meaning "kill"; sleigh is a noun denoting "a horse-drawn vehicle used on snow and ice" ("a one-horse open sleigh"), or a verb meaning "move in a sleigh."


Word Key: Synonyms

See kill1.

Advertisement

Also on Encarta
Englishtown: Learn English online
Our Partners
Also on MSN
Encarta Message Boards (© Rubberball/Jupiterimages)
Shopping
© 2009 Microsoft