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Glite Dictionary
🍽️ To finish quickly 💀 To kill
to polish off

to polish off

1 9.5
To kill someone on purpose
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈpɑlɪʃ ɔf/
  • Offensive
translation icon : liquidar
  • The assassin polished off his target without attracting attention.

Examples

  • Before she even had a chance to scream, the killer had already polished off the standing puddle and was slurping at the fingers of beer in the seat below.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Well, they finally polished off Jesse James, and after we left the movie she invited me to her house for tea.

    Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

  • Just relax, let the market polish off this pullback to trend channel support, and let's see what the bounce does.

    Blog text (5)

  • The hitman was known for his ability to polish off anyone who crossed him.

  • In a dark alley, he was given the order to polish off the rival gang leader.

Synonyms

to kill
vsto polish off
  • NSFW
∞ 1.0

Cause the death of a person, animal, or other living thing

is the informal term for only intentional premeditated causing of death
to murder
vsto polish off
  • NSFW
∞ 3.0

To kill someone on purpose in an illegal way

is an informal term used without legal framing or emphasis
to hit
vsto polish off
  • Offensive
653 8.8

To kill someone as part of a plan, often by hired people

is the informal expression for planned death not limited to hired contracts
to slay
vsto polish off
  • NSFW
62 7.5

To kill someone on purpose

is the informal expression for that deliberate premeditated action
to remove
vsto polish off
  • Offensive
58 9.9

To kill someone on purpose, usually by a criminal group

is the informal term for premeditated death without euphemistic tone
to off
vsto polish off
  • Offensive
27 9.9

To kill someone on purpose

is the informal form of the same intentional premeditated action
to knock off
vsto polish off
  • NSFW
19 9.9

Kill someone as part of a crime

is the informal expression for planned death without stressing criminal operation
to dispatch
vsto polish off
  • Offensive
13 7.7

To kill a person or animal quickly on purpose

is the informal phrase for planned premeditated death without speed focus
to bump off
vsto polish off
  • Offensive
5 9.3

To kill someone on purpose, usually secretly and as part of a crime

is the informal word for planned death without stressing secrecy

Antonyms

to spare
77 3.5

Decide not to hurt someone even though you could

How Violent

to slaughter
  • NSFW
158 5.7
to assassinate
  • NSFW
199 7.0
to murder
  • NSFW
∞ 3.0
to polish off
  • Offensive
1 9.5
dispatch
  • Offensive
1 7.8

Surface Forms

polish off infinitive
polished off past
polished off past participle
polishing off present participle
polishes off third person singular

Morphology

polish + off

The literal verb 'polish' (to make shiny) does not contribute a sense of killing, and the violent meaning depends on a slang sense of 'off' that B1 learners are unlikely to know. Because the overall meaning is idiomatic and not compositionally predictable from the constituents (and the phrase also has other senses like 'finish off'), this usage is opaque to learners.

Etymology

Polish off also became slang for killing someone. One idea is that off already meant 'to get rid of' someone and polish added the idea of a neat, final action, so it came to mean 'to kill' someone on purpose.