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Webster 1913 Edition

Slay

Slay

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp.
Slew
;
p. p.
Slain
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Slaying
.]
[OE.
slan
,
sl[GREEK]n
,
sleen
,
slee
, AS.
sleán
to strike, beat, slay; akin to OFries.
slā
, D.
slaan
, OS. & OHG.
slahan
, G.
schlagen
, Icel.
slā
, Dan.
slaae
, Sw.
sl[GREEK]
, Goth.
slahan
; perhaps akin to L.
lacerare
to tear to pieces, Gr. [GREEK][GREEK][GREEK][GREEK], E.
lacerate
. Cf.
Slaughter
,
Sledge
a hammer,
Sley
.]
To put to death with a weapon, or by violence; hence, to kill; to put an end to; to destroy.
With this sword then will I
slay
you both.
Chaucer.
I will
slay
the last of them with the sword.
Amos ix. 1.
I’ll
slay
more gazers than the basilisk.
Shakespeare
Syn. – To kill; murder; slaughter; butcher.

Webster 1828 Edition

Slay

SLAY

,
Verb.
T.
pret. slew; pp. slain. [The proper sense is to strike, and as beating was an early mode of killing, this word, like smite, came to signify to kill. It seems to be formed on the root of lay; as we say to lay on.]
1.
To kill; to put to death by a weapon or by violence. We say, he slew a man with a sword, with a stone, or with a club, or with other arms; but we never say, the serif slays a malefactor with a halter, or a man is slain on the gallows or by poison. So the slay retains something of its primitive sense of striking or beating. It is particularly applied to killing in battle, but is properly applied also to the killing of a individual man or beast.
2.
To destroy.

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