Word: killer Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English killer, kyller. By surface analysis, kill + -er. Pronunciation: /ˈkɪlə/, [ˈkʰɪlə], /ˈkɪlɚ/, [ˈkʰɪlɚ] ~ [ˈkʰɪlɹ̩] 1. One who or that which kills. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: There’s a killer on the loose. Example: My cat is a habitual bird killer. 2. That which causes stress or is extremely difficult, especially that which may cause failure at a task. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: That test was a killer. Example: The final hill in the race course was a killer. 3. Something that is so far ahead of its competition that it effectively kills off that competition. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: Digital streaming platforms are CD killers. 4. The killer whale. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Theſe Killers are from twenty to thirty Feet long, and have Teeth in both Jaws that lock one within another. They have a Fin, near the middle of their Backs, four or five Foot long. They go in Company by Dozens, and ſet upon a young Whale, and will bait him like ſo many Bull-dogs; ſome will lay hold of his Tail to keep him from threſhing, while others lay hold of his Head, and bite and threſh him, till the poor Creature, being thus heated, lolls out his Tongue, and then ſome of the Killers catch hold of his Lips, and if poſſible of his Tongue; and after they have killed him, they chiefly feed upon the Tongue and Head, but when he begins to putrify, they leave him. This Killer is without doubt the Orca, that Dr Frangius deſcribes in his Treatiſe of Animals. Example: This skull, which has all the appearance of being that of a full-grown animal, is just one quarter the length and breadth of the skull of the adult common Killer (Orca gladiator). 5. A remarkably impressive person or thing. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: The head of the Environmental Protection Agency quakes with mirth at his own punch line. Grimaldi chuckles through his teeth. “A killer, Tom, an absolute killer.” Example: Picture perfect, you don't need no filter / Gorgeous, make 'em drop dead, you're a killer 6. A knockout form of darts or pool involving several players. Labels: uncountable 7. A club used for killing fish. Labels: countable, uncountable 8. A particularly heavy type of handstamp, or portion of one, often obscuring a large part of the postage stamp. Labels: countable, uncountable 9. Synonym of virama (“kind of diacritical mark”). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: In the course of its adaptation to non-Indo-Aryan languages, the Burmese script has acquired some features that distinguish it from other Indic scripts. The killer, or virama, participates in some common constructions that would be clumsy to handle the way they would be in the other Indic scripts, so the control function of the virama is separated from the diacritic function of the killer. The virama, 0F4D is used to form conjunct consonants, while the killer, 0F52, is a simple diacritic and has no effect on character shaping. The killer is also combined with the VOWEL SIGN O (0F4B) to form the low level tone vowel “o.” When used this way, this symbol is known as hyei hto, or “thrust forward.” Example: For example, although the ‘vowel killer’ diacritic may be called a ‘pulli’ in Tamil, it is still referred to by the Unicode character names as a ‘virama’.