kill me
414
9.3
- idiom
- Informal
:
morirse
- It's killing me that we can't see her.
- just kill me
- kill me now
- kill me, man
Examples
-
Come on, you're killing me.
-
- I mean, I am stuck in a village full of a bunch of angry peasants who wanna kill me.
-
My parents would kill me if they knew I was here, okay?
-
And like, oh, man, it would kill me if you, like, hated me, you know, because of that.
-
Or because Mama would kill me if a man humiliated me that way.
Fiction book (1995) -
"God, these hamburgers are gonna kill me, but I love 'em."
Fiction book (1998) -
"Mom's going to kill me when I get home," she said instead.
Fiction book (1999) -
You're gonna kill me now, aren't you?
-
He's gonna kill me!
-
This homework is so confusing; it will kill me if I can't figure it out.
Synonyms
65
9.7
A strong expression showing anger, surprise, or urgency
33
9.9
A very rude phrase people say to show strong anger or annoyance
2
8.9
A way to show strong frustration or disbelief about someone's words and actions
How Frustrated
- Informal
414
9.3
59
3.7
- Informal
13
9.8
- Informal
22
7.9
- Archaic
1
8.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
kill + me
The literal meanings of 'kill' and 'me' make an obvious link to death, so learners can guess it expresses an extreme negative reaction, but in conversational use it is a conventionalized, hyperbolic exclamation of frustration rather than a literal wish to die. Interpreting this pragmatic, non-literal function requires exposure to discourse conventions and tone, so the relation to the constituents is partially clear but not fully predictable.
Etymology
The phrase kill me may come from a dramatic cry people used when something was so embarrassing or awful they felt like dying. The picture of the verb kill directed at me makes the feeling very strong, so today people use it to mean 'extreme frustration' and not a real wish to die.