fit to kill

English

Adverb

fit to kill (comparative more fit to kill, superlative most fit to kill)

1. Extremely; lavishly.
   • 1922, Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt:

     Well, during the strike Clarence Drum comes pee-rading up to our table, all dolled up fit to kill in his nice lil cap'n's uniform, and somebody says to him, 'Busting the strike, Clarence?'

   • 2010, Sandra A. Jones, The Silent Scream, →ISBN, page 35:

     And, here, on the sidewalk outside was a gang of white boys come to heckle, a rag-tail rabble, slack-jawed, black-jacketed, grinning fit to kill, and some of them, God save the mark, were waving the proud and honored flag of the Southern States in the last war fought by gentlemen.

   • 2014, Jane Toombs, Wild Mustangv, →ISBN:

     He began to chuckle and, moments later, both of them were laughing fit to kill.

2. In a manner full of anger or malevolence.
   • 2009, Jean Echenoz, Running: A Novel, →ISBN, page 114:

     There are unbelievable sights. People watch, on television, as ordinary citizens speak up to question ministers and Party bigwigs, while in Moscow, big brother is now frowning fit to kill.

   • 2011, Gary Crew, Angel's Gate, →ISBN:

     Then this Flannagan, when he knows that he can't get what he wants off Hamish neither, he walks off, yelling fit to kill, and gets in beside the girl and drives off, straight down Main Street all the way,

   • 2014, Jim Ore, The Planet of the Publishers, →ISBN, page 65:

     He stormed down the path, practically kicking the front gate off its hinges only to see his bus coming, started running desperately and almost got to the stop, desperate fingers outstretched, but the doors slammed shut in his face and the bloody thing drove off leaving him holding onto a lamppost to support himself, gasping, desperate for breath and fit to be tied, the poor bugger watched the bus disappear down the road through a red mist, seething fit to kill.

Adjective

fit to kill (comparative more fit to kill, superlative most fit to kill)

1. Very well groomed.
   • 1919, Joseph Conrad, The Arrow of Gold: A Story between Two Notes, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, […], →OCLC:

     He was smiling, easy, correct, perfectly delightful, fit to kill.

   • 1967, Trudy Baker, Rachel Jones, Donald Bain (uncredited), Coffee, Tea, or Me?: The Uninhibited Memoirs of Two Airline Stewardesses, New York: Bantam Books, page 46:

     We had to be dressed fit to kill every morning, our fingernails absolutely perfect, our faces made up.

2. Extremely angry.
   • 2002, Catherine Coulter, Hemlock Bay, →ISBN:

     “I think you should consider lowering yourself,” Sherlock said, and in that moment, Tennyson looked fit to kill.

   • 2002, Brenda Andrews, The Whole Story, →ISBN, page 39:

     He had arrived at the little shack fit to kill, and full of enough steam to run a locomotive engine.

   • 2012, Judith Saxton, The Blue And Distant Hills, →ISBN:

     'I reckon your dad wrote to Grace, too, but Joshua 'ad been hoist on 'is own petard and that made 'im fit to kill. '

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see fit,‎ kill.
   • 2011, Edward Belcher, The Last of the Arctic Voyages, →ISBN:

     Animals, ducks, fowls, etc., are not fit to kill, do not live, and turn out eventually very dear bargains.