Death

• POS: Noun

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Death, n.
1 the final cessation of vital functions in an organism; the ending of life.
2 the event that terminates life.
3 a the fact or process of being killed or killing (stone to death; fight to the death). b the fact or state of being dead (eyes closed in death; their deaths caused rioting).
4 a the destruction or permanent cessation of something (was the death of our hopes). b colloq. something terrible or appalling.
5 (usu. Death) a personification of death, esp. as a destructive power, usu. represented by a skeleton.
6 a lack of religious faith or spiritual life.

Idiom

as sure as death quite certain. at death's door close to death. be in at the death
1 be present when an animal is killed, esp. in hunting.
2 witness the (esp. sudden) ending of an enterprise etc.
be the death of
1 cause the death of.
2 be very harmful to. catch one's death colloq. catch a serious chill etc. death adder any of various venomous snakes of the genus Acanthopis esp. A. antarcticus of Australia. death cap a poisonous toadstool, Amanita phalloides. death cell a prison cell for a person condemned to death. death certificate an official statement of the cause and date and place of a person's death. death duty Brit. hist. a tax levied on property after the owner's death.

Usage

Replaced in 1975 by capital transfer tax and in 1986 by inheritance tax. death grant Brit. a State grant towards funeral expenses. death-knell
1 the tolling of a bell to mark a person's death.
2 an event that heralds the end or destruction of something. death-mask a cast taken of a dead person's face. death penalty punishment by being put to death. death rate the number of deaths per thousand of population per year. death-rattle a gurgling sound sometimes heard in a dying person's throat.
death-roll
1 those killed in an accident, battle, etc.
2 a list of these. death row US a prison block or section for prisoners sentenced to death. death's head a human skull as an emblem of mortality. death's head moth a large dark hawk moth, Acherontia atropos, with skull-like markings on the back of the thorax. death squad an armed paramilitary group formed to kill political enemies etc. death tax US a tax on property payable on the owner's death. death-toll the number of people killed in an accident, battle, etc. death-trap colloq. a dangerous or unhealthy building, vehicle, etc.
death-warrant
1 an order for the execution of a condemned person.
2 anything that causes the end of an established practice etc. death-watch (in full death-watch beetle) a small beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum) which makes a sound like a watch ticking, once supposed to portend death, and whose larva bores in old wood. death-wish Psychol. a desire (usu. unconscious) for the death of oneself or another.
do to death
1 kill.
2 overdo. fate worse than death colloq. a disastrous misfortune or experience. like death warmed up sl. very tired or ill. put to death kill or cause to be killed. to death to the utmost, extremely (bored to death; worked to death).

Derivative

deathless adj. deathlessness n. deathlike adj.

Etymology

OE death f. Gmc: rel. to DIE(1)

THESAURUS

Death

Azrael, Black Death, Death, Grim Reaper, Pale Death, Reaper, Z, angel of death, annihilation, apodosis, bane, caducity, casualty, catastrophe, ceasing, cessation, changeableness, coda, conclusion, consummation, corruptibility, crack of doom, crossbones, crossing the bar, culmination, curtain, curtains, death knell, deathblow, decease, demise, denouement, destination, destiny, destruction, dissolution, doom, downfall, dying, effect, end, end point, ending, envoi, ephemerality, ephemeralness, epilogue, eradication, eschatology, evanescence, expiration, expiry, extermination, extinction, extirpation, fatal, fate, final solution, final twitch, final words, finale, finality, finis, finish, finitude, fleetingness, fugacity, goal, grave, grim reaper, impermanence, impermanency, instability, izzard, last, last breath, last gasp, last things, last trumpet, last words, latter end, liquidation, memento mori, momentariness, mortality, mutability, obliteration, omega, pale horse, pale rider, passing, payoff, period, perishability, peroration, quietus, resolution, resting place, ruin, sickle of Death, silence, skull, skull and crossbones, sleep, stoppage, stopping place, swan song, term, terminal, termination, terminus, that fell sergeant, that grim ferryman, transience, transiency, transientness, transitoriness, undoing, volatility, white cross, windup

ROGET THESAURUS

Death

End

N end, close, termination, desinence, conclusion, finis, finale, period, term, terminus, endpoint, last, omega, extreme, extremity, gable end, butt end, fag-end, tip, nib, point, tail, verge, tag, peroration, bonne bouche, bottom dollar, tail end, rear guard, consummation, denouement, finish, fate, doom, doomsday, crack of doom, day of Judgment, dies irae, fall of the curtain, goal, destination, limit, determination, expiration, expiry, extinction, extermination, death, end of all things, finality, eschatology, break up, commencement de la fin, last stage, turning point, coup de grace, deathblow, knock-out-blow, sockdolager, ending, final, terminal, definitive, crowning, last, ultimate, hindermost, rear, caudal, vergent, conterminate, conterminous, conterminable, ended, at an end, settled, decided, over, played out, set at rest, conclusive, penultimate, last but one, last but two, unbegun, uncommenced, fresh, finally, in fine, at the last, once for all, as high as Heaven and as deep as hell, deficit omne quod nascitur, en toute chose il faut considerer la fin, finem respice, ultimus Romanorum.

Cessation

N cessation, discontinuance, desistance, desinence, intermission, remission, suspense, suspension, interruption, stop, stopping, closure, stoppage, halt, arrival, pause, rest, lull, respite, truce, drop, interregnum, abeyance, cloture, dead stop, dead stand, dead lock, finis, cerrado, blowout, burnout, meltdown, disintegration, comma, colon, semicolon, period, full stop, end, death, I pause for a reply.

Death

N death, decease, demise, dissolution, departure, obit, release, rest, quietus, fall, loss, bereavement, mortality, morbidity, end of life &c, cessation of life &c, loss of life, extinction of life, ebb of life, death warrant, death watch, death rattle, death bed, stroke of death, agonies of death, shades of death, valley of death, jaws of death, hand of death, last breath, last gasp, last agonies, dying day, dying breath, dying agonies, chant du cygne, rigor mortis, Stygian shore, King of terrors, King Death, Death, doom, Hell's grim Tyrant, euthanasia, break up of the system, natural death, natural decay, sudden death, violent death, untimely end, watery grave, debt of nature, suffocation, asphyxia, fatal disease, death blow, necrology, bills of mortality, obituary, death song, dead, lifeless, deceased, demised, departed, defunct, extinct, late, gone, no more, exanimate, inanimate, out of the world, taken off, released, departed this life, dead and gone, dead as a doornail, dead as a doorpost, dead as a mutton, dead as a herring, dead as nits, launched into eternity, gone to one's eternal reward, gone to meet one's maker, pushing up daisies, gathered to one's fathers, numbered with the dead, dying, moribund, morient, hippocratic, in articulo, in extremis, in the jaws of death, in the agony of death, going off, aux abois, one one's last legs, on one's death bed, at the point of death, at death's door, at the last gasp, near one's end, given over, booked, with one foot in the grave, tottering on the brink of the grave, stillborn, mortuary, deadly, post obit, post mortem, life ebbs, life fails, life hangs by a thread, one's days are numbered, one's hour is come, one's race is run, one's doom is sealed, Death knocks at the door, Death stares one in the face, the breath is out of the body, the grave closes over one, sic itur ad astra, de mortuis nil nisi bonum, dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, honesta mors turpi vita potior, in adamantine chains shall death be bound, mors ultima linea rerum est, ominia mors aequat, Spake the grisly Terror, the lone couch of this everlasting sleep, nothing is certain but death and taxes, death, decease, demise, dissolution, departure, obit, release, rest, quietus, fall, loss, bereavement, mortality, morbidity, end of life &c, cessation of life &c, loss of life, extinction of life, ebb of life, death warrant, death watch, death rattle, death bed, stroke of death, agonies of death, shades of death, valley of death, jaws of death, hand of death, last breath, last gasp, last agonies, dying day, dying breath, dying agonies, chant du cygne, rigor mortis, Stygian shore, King of terrors, King Death, Death, doom, Hell's grim Tyrant, euthanasia, break up of the system, natural death, natural decay, sudden death, violent death, untimely end, watery grave, debt of nature, suffocation, asphyxia, fatal disease, death blow, necrology, bills of mortality, obituary, death song, dead, lifeless, deceased, demised, departed, defunct, extinct, late, gone, no more, exanimate, inanimate, out of the world, taken off, released, departed this life, dead and gone, dead as a doornail, dead as a doorpost, dead as a mutton, dead as a herring, dead as nits, launched into eternity, gone to one's eternal reward, gone to meet one's maker, pushing up daisies, gathered to one's fathers, numbered with the dead, dying, moribund, morient, hippocratic, in articulo, in extremis, in the jaws of death, in the agony of death, going off, aux abois, one one's last legs, on one's death bed, at the point of death, at death's door, at the last gasp, near one's end, given over, booked, with one foot in the grave, tottering on the brink of the grave, stillborn, mortuary, deadly, post obit, post mortem, life ebbs, life fails, life hangs by a thread, one's days are numbered, one's hour is come, one's race is run, one's doom is sealed, Death knocks at the door, Death stares one in the face, the breath is out of the body, the grave closes over one, sic itur ad astra, de mortuis nil nisi bonum, dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, honesta mors turpi vita potior, in adamantine chains shall death be bound, mors ultima linea rerum est, ominia mors aequat, Spake the grisly Terror, the lone couch of this everlasting sleep, nothing is certain but death and taxes.