murder one's darlings
murder one's darlings is the alternative form of kill one's darlings.
Meaning of kill one's darlings
Verb
kill one's darlings (third-person singular simple present kills one's darlings, present participle killing one's darlings, simple past and past participle killed one's darlings)
- To destroy things or characters, particularly in art, of which one is fond, often reluctantly in order to improve one's artistic output.
- Someone asked William Faulkner what the supreme law of art was, and he replied in three words: "Kill your darlings!"1965, Raymond Léopold Bruckerger, The History of Jesus Christ, page 161
Forms of murder one's darlings
| third-person singular present | murders one's darlings |
|---|---|
| present participle | murdering one's darlings |
| past participle | murdered one's darlings |
| past | murdered one's darlings |
Origin of murder one's darlings
Possibly first used by Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863–1944) during a series of lectures at the University of Cambridge, later published in book form.
Questions about murder one's darlings
- What is murder one's darlings the alternative form of?
- Murder one's darlings is the alternative form of kill one's darlings.
Words near murder one's darlings in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: murder one's darlings (page history and authors); kill one's darlings (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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