Slay vs Impress - What's the difference?
slay | impress |
To kill, murder.
(literary) To eradicate or stamp out.
(by extension, colloquial) To defeat, overcome.
* 1956', “Giants '''Slay Bears in Pro Title Battle”, in ''Lodi News-Sentinel , 1956 December 31,
* 1985', “Redskins '''slay Giants; Thiesmann shatters leg”, in ''The Gadsden Times , 1985 November 19,
* 1993 , Jack Curry, “
(slang) To delight or overwhelm, especially with laughter.
To affect (someone) strongly and often favourably.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=5 To make an impression, to be impressive.
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=September 7, author=Phil McNulty, title=Moldova 0-5 England
, work=BBC Sport To produce a vivid impression of (something).
To mark or stamp (something) using pressure.
* Shakespeare
To produce (a mark, stamp, image, etc.); to imprint (a mark or figure upon something).
(figurative) To fix deeply in the mind; to present forcibly to the attention, etc.; to imprint; to inculcate.
* I. Watts
To compel (someone) to serve in a military force.
To seize or confiscate (property) by force.
* Evelyn
The act of impressing.
An impression; an impressed image or copy of something.
* Shakespeare
* 1908 , Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans , Norton 2005, p. 1330:
A stamp or seal used to make an impression.
An impression on the mind, imagination etc.
* 2007 , John Burrow, A History of Histories , Penguin 2009, p. 187:
Characteristic; mark of distinction; stamp.
A heraldic device; an impresa.
* Milton
The act of impressing, or taking by force for the public service; compulsion to serve; also, that which is impressed.
* Shakespeare
As verbs the difference between slay and impress
is that slay is to kill, murder while impress is to affect (someone) strongly and often favourably.As a noun impress is
the act of impressing .slay
English
Verb
- The knight slew the dragon.
- Our foes must all be slain .
- You must slay these thoughts.
page 8.
page D1-5.
Yanks’ Bullpen Falls Short Again”, in The New York Times , 1993 April 21:
- The Yankees were actually slayed by two former Yankees because Rich Gossage pitched one scoreless inning in relief of Eckersley to notch his first victory.
- Ha ha! You slay me!
Usage notes
* The alternative past tense and past participle form "slayed" is most strongly associated with the slang sense, "to delight or overwhelm": *: {{quote-book, i2=*::, 1929, Harry Charles Witwer, Yes Man's Landcitation, passage="Cutey, you slayed me !" grins Jackie, working fast. "I guess that's what made the rest of 'em look so bad — you was so good!"}} * In recent use, "slayed" is also often found associated with the other senses as well. However, this is widely considered nonstandard."But slayed cannot be considered established in such use. Whether it eventually becomes established remains to be seen." — '>citation * A review of US usage 2000-2009 in COCA suggests that "slayed" is increasing in popularity, but remains less common than "slew". It is very rare in UK usage (BNC).
Synonyms
* kill, murder, assassinate * conquer, defeat, overcome * (to overwhelm or delight) kill, hit it out of the parkDerived terms
* slayerReferences
Anagrams
*impress
English
Verb
(es)citation, passage=Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.}}
citation, passage=Manchester United's Tom Cleverley impressed on his first competitive start and Lampard demonstrated his continued worth at international level in a performance that was little more than a stroll once England swiftly exerted their obvious authority.}}
- his heart, like an agate, with your print impressed
- Impress the motives of persuasion upon our own hearts till we feel the force of them.
- the second five thousand pounds impressed for the service of the sick and wounded prisoners
Synonyms
* make an impression on * cut a figure * (produce a vivid impression of) * imprint, print, stamp * : pressgang * : confiscate, impound, seize, sequesterNoun
(es)- This weak impress of love is as a figure / Trenched in ice.
- We know that you were pressed for money, that you took an impress of the keys which your brother held
- Such admonitions, in the English of the Authorized Version, left an indelible impress on imaginations nurtured on the Bible
- (South)
- (Cussans)
- To describe emblazoned shields, / Impresses quaint.
- Why such impress of shipwrights?
