As a body of water, a kill is a creek. The word comes from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel".

The term is used in areas of Dutch influence in the Delaware and Hudson Valleys and other areas of the former New Netherland colony of Dutch America to describe a strait, river, or arm of the sea. Examples are Kill Van Kull and Arthur Kill, both separating Staten Island, New York from New Jersey, Dutch Kills and English Kills off Newtown Creek, Bronx Kill between The Bronx and Randall's Island, and used as a composite name, Wallkill River in New York and New Jersey and the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania. Fresh Kills was the primary landfill for New York City in the second half of the 20th Century and was once the largest in the world.

Peekskill is a city on the Hudson River settled by the Dutch, founded by one, Jan Peake, a fur trader and sea captain. The creek, or "Kill" that fed the Hudson at this wide bend in the river, and gave the city its name, was abundant with fish, surrounded by game, and became an early settlement and trading center.

Humorously, in Delaware, there exists a Murderkill River. "Kill" also shows up in location names as in the Catskill Mountains and the town of Fishkill, New York, which was the subject of a campaign against etymology by animal rights group, PETA, which wanted a more animal-friendly name.

A reference to 'kil' can be found in Dutch geographical names, e.g. Dordtsche Kil, Sluiskil (in the Terneuzen municipality), or Kil van Hurwenen.