Word.ws English Dictionary

kill the fatted calf

kill the fatted calf verb: to begin a festive celebration and rejoice for someone's long-awaited return.

Verb

kill the fatted calf (third-person singular simple present kills the fatted calf, present participle killing the fatted calf, simple past and past participle killed the fatted calf)

  1. (idiomatic) To begin a festive celebration and rejoice for someone's long-awaited return.

Forms of kill the fatted calf

third-person singular presentkills the fatted calf
present participlekilling the fatted calf
past participlekilled the fatted calf
pastkilled the fatted calf

Origin of kill the fatted calf

From the parable of the prodigal son in the New Testament.

Questions about kill the fatted calf

What does kill the fatted calf mean?
Kill the fatted calf means to begin a festive celebration and rejoice for someone's long-awaited return.
What part of speech is kill the fatted calf?
Kill the fatted calf is a verb.
What is the past tense of kill the fatted calf?
The past tense of kill the fatted calf is killed the fatted calf.

Words near kill the fatted calf in the dictionary

  1. kill stolen
  2. kill switch
  3. kill switches
  4. kill team
  5. kill teams
  6. kill the fatted calf
  7. kill the goose that lays the golden eggs
  8. kill the messenger
  9. kill the rabbit
  10. kill time
  11. kill trees

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kill the fatted calf (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-kill the fatted calf.ogg.

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