killers

Noun

killer (countable and uncountable, plural killers)

1. One who or that which kills.
   • There’s a killer on the loose.
2. (figuratively) That which causes stress or is extremely difficult, especially that which may cause failure at a task.
   • That test was a killer.
3. (figuratively) Something that is so far ahead of its competition that it effectively kills off that competition.
   • Digital streaming platforms are CD killers.
4. (archaic or by ellipsis) The killer whale.
   • 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...1734, Royal society of London, The Philosophical Transactions and Collections: Abridged and Disposed Under General Heads, Volume 9, Thomas Bennet, …, page 429
5. (figuratively) A remarkably impressive person or thing.
   • 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.”2004, David Mitchell, “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery”, in Cloud Atlas, →ISBN, page 130
6. (uncountable) A knockout form of darts or pool involving several players.

See all 12 meanings of killer