Legal Definitions - kill

The term "kill" refers to the act of bringing something to an end. This can be understood in two primary ways:

• Ending life: To cause the physical death of a living being.
• Ending existence or progress: To completely stop, terminate, or prevent the continuation of something non-living, such as a project, plan, or idea.

Here are some examples illustrating these meanings:

• Example 1 (Ending life): A severe electrical storm caused a tree to fall onto a power line, resulting in a surge that killed the fish in a nearby pond.

  Explanation: This example demonstrates the literal meaning of "kill," where the electrical surge directly caused the physical death of the fish, ending their lives.

• Example 2 (Ending a project): After a year of development and significant investment, the startup decided to kill its experimental social media platform due to a lack of user adoption and overwhelming competition.

  Explanation: Here, "kill" is used figuratively. It means the startup completely terminated the project, ending its development and preventing its launch or continuation, even though the platform itself was not a living entity.

• Example 3 (Ending a proposal): During budget negotiations, several key senators managed to kill the proposed amendment that would have allocated additional funding for space exploration, arguing it was fiscally irresponsible.

  Explanation: In this context, "kill" signifies that the senators successfully prevented the amendment from passing or moving forward. They brought its potential existence and implementation to a definitive end.