U.S. local. [a. Du. kil, MDu. kille river-bed, channel.] A stream, ‘creek,’ or tributary river: so called in parts of N. America originally settled by the Dutch (esp. in place-names, as Schuylkill).
1669. Pennsylv. Archives, I. 29. A Certain Island … lying and being in a Kill which runnes into the Scholekill.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 494. A little pleasant stream, called Eusopus kill or creek.
1879. J. Burroughs, Locusts & Wild Honey, 169. Kills and dividing ridges.
