| 释义 |
▪ I. death, n.|dɛθ|
Forms: α. 1–4 déaþ, 2 daþ, dieþ, 2–3 dæþ, 2–4 deþ, 3 death, diaþ, diath, diþ, 4 deeþ, dyaþ, dyeaþ, 4–5 deythe, 4–6 deth, dethe, 5 deeth, 6 Sc. deith, 6– death. Also β. 3 dead, dæd, 3–6 ded, dede, (4 dedd, did), 4–5 (6–8 Sc.) deed, 5–6 deyd, 6–9 (chiefly Sc.) dead, 4–9 Sc. deid.
[A Common Teut. n.: OE. déaþ= OFris. dâth, dâd (WFris. dead), OS. dôð, dôd (MDu. and MLG. dôt(d-), Du. dood), OHG. tôd, MHG. tôt (Ger. tod), ON. orig. dauðr, usually dauði (Sw., Da. död), Goth. dauþus, an OTeut. deriv. in -þu-z (= L. -tu-s) of the verbal stem dau- (pre-Teut. type dhau-, *ˈdhau-tu-s), whence ON. deyja to die. (Cf. also dead.) Of the ME. form ded, dede, usual in the northern dial. (but not confined to it), Sc. 4– deid (did), also spelt 6– dead, the history is not quite clear; the final d agrees with Sw. and Da., and suggests Norse influence, but the vowel regularly represents OE. éa: cf Sc. breid, heid, steid |brid|, etc.).]
I.
1. The act or fact of dying; the end of life; the final cessation of the vital functions of an animal or plant. a. of an individual.
971Blickl. Hom. 33 He mid his costunge ure costunge oforswiþde, and mid his deaþe urne deaþ. c1250Old Kentish Serm. in O.E. Misc. 36 Non ne wot þane dai of his diaþe. a1300K. Horn 58 So fele miȝten yþe Bringe hem þre to diþe. c1449Pecock Repr. 376 The wommen..whiche after hir husbondis deethis wolden..lyue chaast. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 293 The death of a deare friend. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 832 With him all deaths I could endure, without him live no life. 1887J. A. Hamilton in Dict. Nat. Biog. IX. 370/2 He bore the scar to his death.
βc1205Lay. 8424-6 Herigal..sweor, þat Euelin i ðon dæi Dæd sculde þolien. Euelin wes swiðe of-dred, For me him dead bi-hæhte. a1300Cursor M. 905 (Cott.) Þou sal be slan wit duble dedd. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) Pref. 1 He wald..suffer hard passioun and dede. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 2577 Sho saw hir deed semed nere at hande. 1533Gau Richt Vay (1888) 13 Sayand to ane oder god giff the ane ewil deid. 1570Buchanan Ane Admonitioun Wks. 23 To revenge his faderis deid. a1605Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxii. 41 Then wer I out of dout of deed.
b. in the abstract.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. viii. 26 Se deaþ hit huru afirreþ. a1200Moral Ode xcviii. in E.E.P. (1862) 28 Dieð com in þis middenerd þurh þe ealde deofles onde. c1340Cursor M. 835 (Trin.) Fro þat tyme furst coom deþ to man. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. ii. (1495) 187 Deth is callyd mors for it is bitter. 1583Harsnet Serm. Ezek. (1658) 128 There are no two things so opposite as Life and Death. 1667Milton P.L. 1. 3 The Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast Brought Death into the World. 1769Cowper Lett. 21 Jan., Death is either the most formidable, or the most comfortable thing we have in prospect. 1859Seeley Ecce Homo iv. (ed. 8) 35 The Greek did not believe death to be annihilation.
βa1300Cursor M. 20841 (Gött.) Þat lijf, ne dede, ne wele, ne wa, Mai neuer turn mi hert þe fra. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 1666 Ded es þe mast dred thing þat es. 1375Barbour Bruce 1. 269 Thryldome is weill wer than deid. c1420Sir Amadas (Weber) 152 Then com deyd..And partyd my dere husbond and me. 1533Gau Richt Vay (1888) 45 As S. Paul sais..Deid is swolit throw wictore.
c. as a personified agent. (Usually figured as a skeleton; see also death's-head.)
971[see 7]. a1300Cursor M. 18116 (Cott.) To ded i said, ‘quar es þi stang?’ 1504Bury Wills (Camden) 105 A blak clothe steynyd wt an image of deth. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. vii. 63, O hell! what haue we here? A carrion death, within whose emptie eye There is a written scroule. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 490 Over them triumphant Death his Dart Shook; but delaid to strike. 1839Longfellow Reaper & Flowers i, There is a Reaper, whose name is Death. 1874J. Fowler in Proc. Soc. Antiq. 19 Feb. 143 A figure of Death, represented as a skeleton with mattock and spade.
2. The state of being dead; the state or condition of being without life, animation, or activity. death-in-life, life that lacks any satisfaction or purpose; living death. (Cf. quot. 1841 s.v. deathliness.)
a1000Andreas 583 (Gr.) He..men of deaðe worde awehte. c1175Lamb. Hom. 91 Crist aras of deaðe. c1250Gen. & Ex. 265 Quan al man-kinde..Sal ben fro dede to liue broȝt. 1340Ayenb. 7 Oure lhord aros uram dyaþe to lyue. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 871 Rays þis bryd to lyfe fra deed. 1827Pollok Course T. iii. 1000 This wilderness of intellectual death. 1864Tennyson En. Ard. 561 One..Lay lingering out a five-years' death-in-life. 1864–6Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. (1866) II. xxv. 255 The Squire stood by in dumb dismay, touched in spite of himself by the death-in-life of one so young. a1895Mod. His eyes were closed in death. 1907Folk-Lore June 228 A seven years' death-in-life trance. 1934‘G. Orwell’ Burmese Days xxiv. 358 The sort of horrible death-in-life! The decay, the loneliness. 1955E. Bowen World of Love vi. 115 They conceived of no death, least of all death-in-life.
¶ In preceding senses the death was frequent in Old and Middle English, and down to the 16th c. See also 7, 12 c, 13; to die the death: see die.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. viii. 26 Se deaþ ne cymð to nanum oðrum þingum. c1175Lamb. Hom. 109 Þe alde mei him witan iwis þone deð. a1225Ancr. R. 52 Þus eode sihðe biuoren..& com þe deað þer efter. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 355 Of þe dede and whi it es to drede. a1400Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. (1867) 3 When þe dede has sundyrde oure bodyes and oure saules. c1430Syr Tryam. 104 Tylle thou be broght to the dedd. 1513Douglas æneis i. i. 54 Quhilk hed the deid eschapit. a1555Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 3 He..rose again from the death. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. ii. 179, I lay it [his breast] naked to the deadly stroke, And humbly begge the death. 1599― Hen. V, iv. i. 181 Where they feared the death, they haue borne life away.
3. transf. The loss or cessation of life in a particular part or tissue of a living being.
1800Med. Jrnl. III. 543 So great a torpor, as to produce ‘the death or mortification of the parts’. 1869Huxley Physiol. i. 23 When death takes place, the body, as a whole, dies first, the death of the tissues not occurring until after a considerable interval.
†4. Loss of sensation or vitality, state of unconsciousness, swoon. Obs. rare. (Cf. dead a. 2.)
1596Sir J. Smythe in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 97 It brought sodeyne death itself upon me for three quarters of an houre.
5. fig.
a. The loss or want of spiritual life; the being or becoming spiritually dead. the second death: the punishment or destruction of lost souls after physical death.
c1000Ags. Gosp. John v. 24 Ic secᵹe eow þæt se þe min word ᵹehyrð..færð fram deaðe to life. c1175Lamb. Hom. 39 Þenne bureȝest þu here saule..from þan ufele deaðe. c1200Ormin 19052 Þiss lif niss nohht rihht nemmnedd lif Acc dæþ itt maȝȝ ben nemmnedd. c1325E.E. Allit. P. A. 651 [He] delyuered vus of þe deth secounde. 1382Wyclif Rev. xxi. 8 The pool brennynge with fijr and brunston, that is the secounde deeth. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) Pref. 1 To by and delyuer vs fra deed withouten end. 1483Caxton G. de la Tour D vj, The perille of the deth of helle. 1534Tindale Rom. viii. 6 To be carnally mynded, is deeth. 1885S. Cox Expositions I. xx, The want of this [eternal] life is eternal death.
b. Loss or deprivation of civil life; the fact or state of being cut off from society, or from certain rights and privileges, as by banishment, imprisonment for life, etc. (Usually civil death.)
1622Fletcher Sp. Curate iv. i, This banishment is a kind of civil death. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. i. ii. 145 A dissolution is the civil death of the parliament. 1767Ibid. II. 121 It may also determine by his civil death; as if he enters into a monastery, whereby he is dead in law. 1772Fletcher Appeal Wks. 1795 I. 100 Does not the spirit of persecution..inflict at least academic death upon [them]? 1871W. Markby Elem. Law §120 A sort of conventional death, or, as it is sometimes called, a civil death.
c. Of a thing: Cessation of being, end, extinction, destruction.
1413Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle iii. x. (1483) 56 And oure deth is withouten deth for it hath none ende. 1718Watts Hymns iii. xxiii, Our faith beholds the dying Lord, And dooms our sins to death. 1821Shelley Boat on Serchio 29 From the lamp's death to the morning ray. 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 48 Suspicion murders love, and from its death Come anguish and remorse.
6. Bloodshed, slaughter, murder.
a1626Bacon (J.), Not to suffer a man of death to live. 1822Shelley Hellas 431 The dew is foul with death. 1883Church & Brodribb tr. Livy xxii. li. 118 Some were cut down by the foe as they rose covered with blood from the field of death.
7. Cause or occasion of death, as in to be the death of; something that kills, or renders liable to death; often hyperbolically; poet. a deadly weapon, poison, etc.
971Blickl. Hom. 67 He cwæþ, ‘Eala deaþ, ic beo þin deaþ’. 1382Wyclif 2 Kings iv. 40 Thei crieden oute, seyinge, Deth in the pott! deth in the pott! 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. i. 14 Poore fellow neuer ioy'd since the price of oats rose, it was the death of him. 1599― Much Ado ii. ii. 19 What life is in that, to be the death of this marriage? 16..Dryden (J.), Swiftly flies The feather'd death, and hisses through the skies. 1704Pope Windsor For. 132 The clam'rous lapwings feel the leaden death. 1773Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. i, A school would be his death. 1816Jane Austen Emma II. iii. 56 Oh! dear, I thought it would have been the death of me! 1842Miall Nonconf. II. 49 These churchmen magistrates will be the death of us. 1847Tennyson Princ. vi. 260 You might mix his draught with death. 1863‘Ouida’ Held in Bondage I. iii. 63 A mill-wheel monotony would be the death of me. 1956S. Beckett Waiting for Godot i. 35 Estragon (convulsed with merriment). He'll be the death of me!
βc1314Guy Warw. (A.) 365 Þou art mi liif, mi ded y-wis..Y dye for þe loue of þe. c1500Melusine 26 He thenne pulled out of hys brest the piece of the swerd, and knew that it was hys dede. 1725Ramsay Gent. Sheph. ii. ii, Her cheeks, her mouth, her een, Will be my dead. 1792Burns Auld Rob Morris iii, The wounds I must hide that will soon be my dead. a1894Mod. Sc. You have been the deid o' him.
†8.
a. A general mortality caused by an epidemic disease; a pestilence. Obs. exc. as in b.
[c1358Edw. III. Let. to Pope Innocent VI in Hist. Lett. N. Registers (Rolls) 405 Quodam morbo incurabili in tibia, mala mors vulgariter nuncupato, percussus.] c1400Knighton Chron. iv. an. 1348, Scoti..sumpserunt in juramentum..sub hac forma quando jurare volebant, Per fœdam mortem Anglorum, anglice be the foul dethe of Engelond. 1480Caxton Descr. Brit. 35 This was moche vsed to-for y⊇ grete deth [Trevisa þe furste moreyn]. 1480–90Chron. Scots in Pinkerton Hist. Scot. I. App. 502 (an. 1482) Thar was ane gret hungyr and deid in Scotland. 1556Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 29 Thys yere was a gret deth at the Menerys. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 961/1 In this yeare a great death of the pestilence reigned in London.
b. Black Death, the name now commonly given to the Great Pestilence or visitation of the Oriental Plague, which devastated most countries of Europe near the middle of the 14th c., and caused great mortality in England in 1348–9; sometimes also including the recurrences of the epidemic in 1360 and 1379.
The name ‘black death’ is modern, and was app. introduced into English history by Mrs. Penrose (Mrs. Markham) in 1823, and into medical literature by Babington's transl. of Hecker's Der Schwarze Tod in 1833. In earlier writers we find the pestilence, the plague, great pestilence, great death, or in distinction from later visitations the furste moreyn, the first pestilence; Latin chroniclers have pestis, pestilentia, epidemia, mortalitas. The distinctive magna mortalitas, ‘great mortality’ or ‘death’, and its equivalents, prevailed in many languages: Ger. das grosse sterben, LGer. de grote dot, Flem. de groete doet, Da. den store död or mandööth, Swed. (1402) store dödhin, later stordöden, digerdöden (thick or frequent mortality), Norweg. (14th c.) manndauði hinn mikli; cf. It. mortalega grande, F. la grande peste, etc. The epithet ‘black’ is of uncertain origin, and not known to be contemporary anywhere. It is first found in Swedish and Danish 16th c. chroniclers (swarta dödhen, den sorte död). Hence, in German, Schlözer in 1773 used der schwarze Tod in reference to Iceland, and Sprengel in 1794 took it as a general appellation. From modern German the name has passed into Dutch (de zwaarte dood) and English, and has influenced French (la peste noire). The quots. 1758 and 1780 below are translations from Danish and Swedish through German, and refer not to the pestilence of 1348, which did not reach Iceland, but to a later visitation in 1402–3, known at the time as plagan mikli (the great plague), but called by modern Icelandic historians, from 17th c., svarti dauði (black death).
[c1440Walsingham Chron. Title of chap., De magna mortalitate in anglia, quæ a modernis vocatur prima pestilentia. 1758tr. Horrebow's Nat. Hist. Iceland in Gentl. Mag. XXVIII. 79 In the 14th century a disease called the Sorte död, or black death, destroyed almost all the inhabitants in the place [Iceland]. 1780tr. Lett. from Ihre (1776) in Von Troil's Lett. Iceland 305 Schlozer divides the Icelandic literature into three periods..the golden period, from the introduction of christianity to the close of the thirteenth [sic—should be fourteenth] century, when the black death or the great plague..checked the progress of poetry. 1800Med. Jrnl. IV. 365 He [Cit. Papon] speaks of the plague..in 1347, otherwise called the black plague. ]
1823Mrs. Markham [Eliz. Penrose] Hist. Eng. xviii, Edward's successes in France were interrupted during the next six years by a most terrible pestilence—so terrible as to be called the black death. 1833B. G. Babington (title) The Black Death in the Fourteenth Century. From the German of J. F. E. Hecker, M.D. 1874Green Short Hist. v. §4. an. 1349, The Black Death fell on the village almost as fiercely as on the town. 1885Encycl. Brit. XIX. 164/2 s.v. Plague, The mortality of the black death was..enormous. It is estimated in various parts of Europe at two-thirds or three-fourths of the population in the first pestilence, in England even higher. 1893F. A. Gasquet (title) The Great Pestilence (a.d. 1348–9), now commonly known as the Black Death.
†9. Hunting. A blast sounded at the death of the game; = mort. Obs.
1741Compl. Fam. Piece ii. i. 293 He that first gets in cries Hoo-up..and blows a Death.
10. As a vehement exclamation or imprecation. See also 'sdeath.
1604Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 396 Death and damnation! Oh! 1668Dryden Evening's Love iv. ii, Death, you make me mad, sir! 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xi, Death! to be seen by ladies..in such vulgar attitudes!
II. Phrases.
†11. In ME. the genitive was occasionally (as in nouns of time) used adverbially = In the condition of death, dead; so lives (gen. of life) = alive. Obs.
a1250Owl & Night. 1630 Ah thu nevre mon to gode Lives ne deathes, stal ne stode. c1314Guy Warw. (A.) 5459 Niȝt no day swiken y nille Liues or deþes that ich him se.
12. to death (Sc. to deid, occas. in Eng. to dead):
a. lit. following verbs as an adverbial extension expressing result, as to † slay, beat, stone, etc. to death; hence to do to (the) death (arch.), to kill, slay; to put to death, to kill, esp. in the execution of justice, to execute.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xx. 18 Hiᵹ ᵹe-nyþeriað hyne to deaþe. a1225Juliana 62 He sloh him wið a stan to deaðe. a1300Cursor M. 6711 (Cott.) To ded [v.r. deþe] þat beist man sal stan. c1330R. Brunne Chron (1810) 127 Þe date..Þat Steuen to dede was dight. c1400Destr. Troy 9533 The Troiens..dong hom to dethe. c1489Caxton Blanchardyn v. (1890) 21 Wounded to deth. 1560–1Bk. Discipl. Ch. Scot. vii. §2 For suche..the Civill swearde aught to punische to death. c1600Shakes. Sonn. xcix. A vengeful canker eat him up to death. 1611― Cymb. v. v. 235 The Gods do meane to strike me To death with mortall ioy. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) II. iii. 189 Shot to death with darts. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xix, The slave-owner can whip his refractory slave to death.
c1314Guy Warw. (A.) 3581 So mani to ded ther he dede. c1400Destr. Troy 11932 The knightes..The pepull with pyne puttyn to dethe. a1400Sir Perc. 930 Ther he was done to the dede. 1503–4Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 34 Preamb., Dyvers [were] put to deth. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 391 Iack Cade..did to death the Lord Say, and others. 1599Shakes. Much Ado v. iii. 3 Done to death by slanderous tongues. 1631Gouge God's Arrows iii. §60. 295 Ministers of Justice in putting capitall malefactors to death. 1847Grote Greece (1862) III. xxxiv. 225 They were all put to death. 1858Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. II. lxxx. 36 Haunted by pictures of some he had done to death.
b. intensifying verbs of feeling, as hate, resent, or adjs., as sick, wearied: to the last extremity, to the uttermost, to the point of physical or nervous exhaustion, beyond endurance.
a1300Cursor M. 13070 (Cott.) Herodias him hated to ded. 1583Hollyband Campo di Fior 241 Clodius is inamoured to dead of a certaine yong woman. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iv. ii. 1 Grif. How do's your Grace? Kath. O Griffith, sicke to death. 1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. ii. 58 The Hereticks abhor me to death. 1670Dryden Conq. Granada Pt. ii. iii. iii, I'm sad to death, that I must be your foe. 1773Mrs. Chapone Improv. Mind (1774) II. 80 A gentleman who would resent to death an imputation of falsehood. 1806Bloomfield Wild Flowers Poems (1845) 220 Some almost laugh'd themselves to dead. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xxii, My stars, Simmun!.. You frighten me to death! 1850Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 142, I have also been bothered to death with servants.
c. to the death formerly interchanged with to death in all senses; it is now used only in certain expressions, as to pursue, persecute, wage war to the death.
1382Wyclif Matt. xxvi. 38 My soule is sorowful til to the deth. c1400Three Kings Cologne iv. 12 Ezechias was syke to þe dethe. c1450Merlin 122 These shull the [= thee] love and serue euer to the deth. 1563Winȝet Four Scoir Thre Quest. Wks. 1888 I. 95 To baneis Christianis..and condemne thame to the dethe. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 217 The which Castell the king hated to the death. 1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589) 261 With such speeches he fought unto the death. 1599Shakes. Much Ado i. iii. 73 You are both sure, and will assist mee? Conr. To the death my Lord. 1673Dryden Marr. à la Mode v. i, And she takes it to the death. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy ii, When he [an attorney] was obliged..to hunt his man to the death. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 207 Four generations of Stuarts had waged a war to the death with four generations of Puritans.
d. to do (a thing) to death, to overdo; to repeat too often or ad nauseam.
1882H. D. Traill Recaptured Rhymes 112, I am also called Played-out and Done-to-death, And It-will-wash-no-more. 1886H. Baumann Londinismen 43/2 Done to death,..überspannt geschrieben. a1889in Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang (1889) I. 320/2 Caricature of Academy pictures done to death in comic journals with utmost regularity for many past years. 1909W. S. Sparrow Hints on House Furnishing ii. iii. 134 Diapered patterns for wall-papers and carpets..were ‘done to death’. 1965New Statesman 16 Apr. 605/1 It [sc. a tune] was mercilessly done to death by countless performers.
13. a. † to have or take the death: to meet one's death, to die. Obs. So to catch one's death: see catch v. 30. to be the death of: see sense 7. to be (or make it) death (for): i.e. to be (or make it) a matter of death of capital punishment.
c1435Torr. Portugal 1229 The kyng had wend he had the dede. c1470Henry Wallace xi. 837 Throuch cowatice, gud Ector tuk the ded. 1652H. Bell Luther's Colloq. (Cassell's Ed.) 13 It should be death for any person to have..a copy thereof. 1847Tennyson Princ. Prol. 150, I would make it death For any male thing but to peep at us.
†b. to go one's death (on or upon), to do one's utmost (for); to risk one's all (on). Obs. U.S. slang.
1833D. Crockett Sketches 74 My little boys at home will go their death to support my election. Ibid. 173 You think they don't go their death upon a jig, but they do. 1835A. B. Longstreet Georgia Scenes (1840) 199 I'll go my death upon you at the shooting match. 1878Scribner's Mag. XV. 400/1 The consulship at Rio Janeiro is vacant, and being worth $6,000, he is moved to ‘go his death on Rio’.
14. death's door, the gates or jaws of death: figurative phrases denoting a near approach to, or great danger of, death.
1382Wyclif Ps. cvi[i]. 18 And they neȝheden to the ȝatis of deth. 1550Coverdale Spir. Perle xviii, To bring unto deaths door, that he may restore unto life again. 1646P. Bulkeley Gospel Covt. To Rdr. 1 When death comes to our dores, and we are at deaths-dore. 1746Berkeley 2nd Let. Tar-water §12 Many patients might thereby be rescued from the jaws of death. 1855Tennyson Charge Light Brigade, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell, Rode the six hundred. 1860Trollope Framley P. xliii, Poor Mrs. Crawley had been at death's door.
15. to be in at the death (in Fox-hunting): to be present when the game is killed by the hounds. Also fig.
1788W. Cowper Let. 3 Mar. (1904) III. 240, I have been in at the death of a fox. 1800Windham Speeches Parl. (1812) I. 337 For the empty fame of being in at the death. 1841Lytton Nt. & Morn. v. ix, A skilful huntsman..who generally contrived to be in at the death. 1919L. Strachey in Athenæum 13 June 454/1 Creevey..had a trick of being ‘in at the death’ on every important occasion:..he invariably popped up at the critical moment. 1933N. Coward Design for Living ii. iii. 71 You have a tremendous sense of the ‘right moment’, Ernest. It's wonderful. You pop up like a genie out of a bottle, just to be in at the death!
16. to be death on (slang): to be eminently capable of doing execution on, or a very good hand at dealing with; to be very fond of. orig. U.S.
1839Spirit of Times 5 Oct. 368/3 [His] nose is so red that no musquito can stand the blaze of it. It's death upon gallinipers, too. 1855Haliburton Nat. & Hum. Nat. 225 (Bartlett) Women..are born with certain natural tastes. Sally was death on lace. 1860Bartlett Dict. Amer. s.v., To be death on a thing, is to be..a capital hand at it, like the quack doctor who could not manage the whooping-cough, but was, as he expressed it, ‘death on fits’. Vulgar. 1884E. Fawcett Gentl. of Leisure i. 9 Fanny hasn't forgotten you..she was always death on you English chaps. 1892Lentzner Australian Word-bk. 19 Death on, good at..‘Death on rabbits’, would mean a very good rabbit shot.
17. a. In various other phraseological expressions; as as pale as death (see pale); and colloq. as sure as death, to ride, come on, hang on, etc., like death, or like grim death.
c1384Chaucer H. Fame 502 But this as sooth as deeth, certeyn, Hit was of golde. c1440Partonope 6999 And in þis wise cristenyd was he, As siker as dethe, with-outen nay. 1598B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. ii. i, They would giue out..That I were iealous! nay, as sure as death, That they would say. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xix, As sure as death there is our master and mistress come home. 1786Burns Scotch Drink x, Then Burnewin comes on like death, At every chaup. 1831S. E. Ferrier Destiny xlviii, Oh, as sure as death, then, that's just owning that you are going to be married. 1836D. Crockett Exploits & Adventures in Texas x. 151 He hung on like grim death. 1837T. Hook Jack Brag III. v. 182 Jack..was holding on, like grim Death, by the companion. 1847[see grim a. 4 b]. 1893Tit Bits 23 Dec. 211/3 The baby..holds on to that finger like grim death. 1928D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club ix. 112 If ever you see him again, Fentiman, freeze on to him like grim death. 1928R. Cullum Myst. Barren Lands xi. 106 ‘Think you'll ever get it?’..‘Sure,’ he said emphatically. ‘Just as sure as ― death.’
b. (a fate) worse than death, a misfortune, situation, etc., regarded as being worse than death; spec. loss of virginity; rape (formerly euphem., now usu. jocular).
[1653D. Osborne Let. ? 28 Aug. (1903) 141 The Roman courage, when they killed themselves to avoid misfortunes that were infinitely worse than death. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. xxxi. 238 The matrons and virgins of Rome were exposed to injuries more dreadful, in the apprehension of chastity, than death itself.] 1810J. Porter Scottish Chiefs III. iii. 68 But where was he who had delivered herself from a worse fate than death? 1832F. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. (1949) 421 Then would a parliament of love..doom to worse than death the spitter and tobacco chewer. 1894Rider Haggard People of Mist vi. 40 It is the custom of my mistress to carry a portion of this poison hidden in her hair, since a time might come when she must use it to save herself from worse than death. 1914E. R. Burroughs Tarzan of Apes (1917) xix. 168 [The ape] threw her roughly across his broad, hairy shoulders, and leaped back into the trees, bearing Jane Porter away toward a fate a thousand times worse than death. 1926Sat. Rev. 6 Feb. 166/1 The heroine, Countess Olga, is saved from a fate worse than death. 1949R. Harvey Curtain Time 22 If she hadn't got across, she would've had what they call a Fate Worse than Death. 1952‘C. Brand’ London Particular vii. 95 Madonna Lily was obviously marked up for a double dose of Worse than Death.
c. like death (warmed up), colloq. phr. indicating a feeling or appearance of extreme illness or exhaustion.
1939Soldiers' War Slang Dict. 7/2 To feel like death warmed up, to feel ill. 1942N. Marsh Death & Dancing Footman ii. 42, I look like death warmed up and what I feel is nobody's business. 1964J. Pendower Sinister Talent xx. 185 It damned near killed me... I still feel like death warmed up. 1969Guardian 14 Feb. 11/1 Much of the time I feel like death. I am in rather a bad temper.
d. in the death, in the end; finally. slang.
1958F. Norman Bang to Rights 172 In the death this geezer got a repreave. 1962R. Cook Crust on its Uppers iii. 42 In the death, though, it went the way of all the best bent jams. Ibid. xvi. 157 After all, you had to marry someone in the death.
III. Combinations.
18. General combinations of obvious meaning.
These may be formed at will, and to any extent: examples are here given. The use of the hyphen is mainly syntactical; it usually implies also a main stress on death-, as in ˈdeath-grasp, ˈdeath-ˌsickness, ˈdeath-poˌlluted.
a. attrib. [As with other names of things, employed instead of the genitive death's (see note below). In this construction already freely used in OE., as in déaþ-béam, -bedd, -cwealm, -dæᵹ, -denu, -spere, -stede, etc.] Of death; belonging or pertaining to death; as death-agony, death-angel, death-camp, death-cart, death-chamber, death-chime, death-cry, death-cult, death-dew, death-dirge, † death-door, † death-fall, death-fever, death-flower, death-grapple, death-groan, death-hour, death-knell, death-march, death-note, death-pang, death-pill, death-sentence, death-shot, death-shriek, death-sleep, death-song, death-stab, death-stiffening, death-terror, death-token, death-train, death-vacancy, death-wraith, etc.; also objective, as death-control (after birth-control), death-dealer, death-worship.
c1440J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. v. 1751 Soo sodeynly on-to deth for to falle. Som men wene that deth-fal were myserye. 1601Chester Love's Mart. (1878) 39 Many Death-doore-knocking Soules complaine. 1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 187 He is so plaguy proud, that the death tokens of it Cry no recouery. 1635Cowley Davideis iv. 972 One would have thought..That Nature's self in her Death-pangs had been. a1780J. Carver Trav. 334 The number of the death-cries they give, declares how many of their own party are lost. Ibid. 337 They are then bound to a stake..and obliged for the last time to sing their death-song. 1792R. Cumberland Calvary Poems 1803 II. 67 Christ's death-hour. 1795Southey Joan of Arc iv. 262 He knew That this was the Death-Angel Azrael, And that his hour was come. 1798W. Sotheby tr. Wieland's Oberon (1826) II. 25 Pale as the cheek with death-dew icy cold. 1799Nelson in Nicolas Disp. IV. 82 To name Sidney Smith's First Lieutenant to the Death-vacancy of Captain Miller. 1811W. R. Spencer Poems 96 And our death-sentence ends the book. 1813Byron Giaour xxiii, The deathshot hissing from afar. 1813Shelley Q. Mab. vii. 14 Nature confirms the faith his death-groan sealed. Ibid. ix. 104 The melancholy winds a death-dirge sung. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xviii, I must not Moray's death-knell hear! 1816J. Wilson City of Plague ii. iv. 103 Now may I ask whose pious care Hath plac'd these death-flowers here! 1829Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 55 He gave the death-stab to modern Superstition. 1834H. Martineau Demerara ix. 128 The animal was not to be restrained..till the long death-grapple was over. 1838Lytton Leila i. v, The death-shriek of his agonised father. 1841Borrow Zincali II. iii. ii. 60 The death-carts..went through the streets..picking up the dead bodies. 1842Pusey Crisis Eng. Ch. 100 From this deathsleep..Protestant Germany was awakened by another battle-cry. 1851Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 221 The Rigor Mortis, or death-stiffening of the muscles. 1882J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 3 The gallery out of which the death-chamber opened. 1883A. I. Menken Infelicia 22 The last tremble of the conscious death-agony. 1884Gurney & Myers in 19th Cent. May 792 Alleged apparitions of living persons, the commonest of which are death-wraiths. 1897Daily News 10 Dec. 7/2 During what was known as the ‘death march’ from Gundamuk to Peshawur..one battalion was..decimated..by cholera. 1903Daily Chron. 20 Oct. 5/1 Said he, You death dealers, I'll stop you. 1904R. J. Farrer Garden of Asia vi. 44 The glow of the death-flowers..has faded. 1917― On Eaves of World I. iv. 71 The inevitable death-terror impels every human soul. 1920Masefield Enslaved 78 That devil's horn Its quavering death-note blew. 1922Joyce Ulysses 579 The deathflower of the potato blight on her breast. 1925D. H. Lawrence St. Mawr 201 They had found their raison d'être in self-torture and death-worship. a1930― Etruscan Places (1932) ii. 60 On the sculptured side of the sarcophagus the two death-dealers wield the hammer of death. 1938Auden & Isherwood On Frontier iii. ii. 115 Your dreary death-cult is hardly likely to amuse a young lady. 1944Ann. Reg. 1943 204 In the course of a three-day ‘liquidation’..the Germans killed more than 1,000 Jews in ‘death camps’. 1948S. Gilbert tr. Camus's Plague iii. i. 164 This system..was really a great improvement on the death-carts driven by negroes. 1949Koestler Promise & Fulfilment vi. 58 At that time the death trains had started rattling through Eastern Europe. 1955World Population & Resources (P.E.P.) i. i. 9 Whereas death-control has always been actively fostered by Governments, birth-control has almost always been left to voluntary action. 1962Guardian 16 Feb. 7/2 This is the authentic Jewish experience: herding, the death-march, endless hunger. 1963I. Fleming On H.M. Secret Service xvi. 175 Had Campbell got a death pill, perhaps one of the buttons on his ski-jacket or trousers? 1970Nature 14 Feb. 595/1 Population growth, death control and the expansion of the labour force are proceeding rapidly.
b. objective, with pres. pples. [already in OE., as déaþ-berende], as death-bearing, death-boding, death-braving, death-bringing, death-counterfeiting, death-darting, death-dealing, death-defying, death-giving, death-subduing, death-threatening, etc., adjs.
1580Sidney Arcadia (1622) 269 The..summons of the death-threatning trumpet. 1581― Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 27 Death-bringing sinnes. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 364 Death-counterfeiting sleepe. 1592― Rom. & Jul. iii. ii. 47 The death-darting eye of Cockatrice. 1593― Lucr. 165 No noise but Owles & wolues death-boding cries. 1633Ford Broken H. i. ii, Death-braving Ithocles. a1711Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 171 Their Death-subduing King. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 156 This death-dealing creature. 1821Shelley Fugitives iv. 7 As a death-boding spirit. 1860Sat. Rev. X. 574/1 When these death-dealing missiles fell among them. 1878Geo. Eliot in Macm. Mag. July 168 What is martyrdom But death-defying utterance of belief? 1882Longfellow In Harbor 39 Life-giving, death-giving, which will it be? 1942S. Spender Life & Poet 30 Tyrants who wish to freeze institutions into death-giving instead of life-giving forms. 1950W. de la Mare Inward Companion 68 This death-defying acrobat.
c. instrumental, with pa. pples., and parasynthetic, as death-begirt, death-dewed, death-divided, death-laden, death-marked, death-polluted, death-shadowed, death-sheeted, death-slain, death-winged, death-wounded, etc., adjs.
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. Prol. 9 The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love. c1600Distracted Emp. ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 192 Having his deathe-slayne mistres in his armes. 1623Massinger Dk. Milan v. ii, Secrets that restore To life death-wounded men! 1647H. More Song of Soul i. iii. xxi, Through the death-shadowed wood. 1787M. Wollstonecraft Wks. (1798) IV. 139 Those mansions, where death-divided friends should meet. 1809Byron To Florence viii, The death-wing'd tempest's blast. 1818Shelley Rev. Islam x. xiii, The death-polluted land. 1832Motherwell Poet. Wks. (1847) 4 The dark death-laden banner. a1839Milman Good Friday Wks. II. 336 By thy drooping death-dew'd brow. 1871G. Macdonald Songs Winter Days iii. iv, Death-sheeted figures, long and white. 1879Browning Ivan Ivanovitch 30 Each village death-begirt.
d. adverbial relations of various kinds, with adjs. and pples., rarely verbs. [With adjs. already in OE., as déaþ-fǽᵹe, -scyldiᵹ, -wériᵹ.] In, to, unto, of, like, as death; as death-black, death-cold, death-dark, death-deaf, death-deep, death-devoted, death-doomed, death-due, death-great, death-pale, death-still, death-weary, death-white, death-worthy, etc., adjs.; death-doom vb. See also death-sick.
1614Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue vi. 210 So, the Saint-Thief, which suffered with our Saviour Was led to Life by his Death-due Behaviour. 1742Francis Horace iv. xiv. (Jod.), The death-devoted breast. 1742Young Nt. Th. v. 75 This Death-deep Silence, and incumbent Shade. 1776Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad 350 Death-doom'd man. 1795Southey Joan of Arc x. 596 The death-pale face. 1796T. Townshend Poems 105 What tho' the sigh or wailing voice Can't soothe the death-cold ear. 1829E. Elliott Village Patriarch Pref., With only one star..in the death-black firmament. 1839Bailey Festus ii. (1848) 11 Like Asshur's death-great monarch. 1863Baring-Gould Iceland 259, I can death-doom him as I please. 1864Lowell Fireside Trav. 242 To death-deaf Carthage shout in vain. 1866Howells Venet. Life iii. 34 All the floors..are death-cold in winter. 1906Westm. Gaz. 19 Oct. 2/4 Wild lilies lie on a death-white heart. 1907Daily Chron. 20 Aug. 3/2 Those death-still places which have no houses. 1921W. de la Mare Veil 91 Rouse the Old Enemy from his death-still swoon. 1932E. Sitwell Bath 81 They will play with..their death-dark negro slave.
¶ The genitive, now used (as a possessive) only in poetry or when death is personified, was formerly freely used where we should now use of, or death- in combination, as in death's evil, death's sorrow, death's sting; death's bed, death's day, death's wound (see death-bed, etc.). See also death's-face, -head, -herb, -ring.
a1000Guthlac 350 (Gr.) Nis me þæs deaþes sorᵹ. c1200Ormin 1374 Þær Cristess mennisscnesse Drannc dæþess drinnch. c1230Hali Meid. 17 Þat dreori dede..ȝiueð þat deaðes dunt. c1422Hoccleve Learn to Die 538 Thogh thow seeke in thy bed now lye, Be nat agast, no dethes euel haast thow. 1847Lyte Hymn, ‘Abide with me’ vi, Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
19. Special combs.: death-adder, a name for the genus Acanthophis of venomous serpents, esp. A. antarctica of Australia; also erron. f. deaf-adder, deaf adder: see deaf a. 1 d, 7; death-baby (U.S.), see quot.; death-bill (Eccl.), a list of dead for whom prayers were to be said (see quot.); death-blast, (a) a blast of a horn, etc. announcing or presaging death; (b) a storm or wind of destructive or deadly character; death-bone Austral., a bone pointed at a person and intended to cause his death (cf. bone n. 1 e); death camas(s) = death quamash; death cap = death-cup; death-chair, the electric chair; death-cord, the rope used for hanging, the gallows-rope; death-cup, the poisonous fungus Amanita phalloides; death-dance, a dance at or in connexion with death; the Dance of Death; death-doing a., doing to death, killing, murderous (see also dead-doing); death-drake (Angling), a kind of artificial fly (see drake); death-duty, a duty levied on the devolution of property in consequence of the owner's death; legacy, and probate and succession duties; † death-evil (dede-, deed-), a mortal disease; also, the name of a specific disease (quot. 1559); death-feigning, the feigning of death, esp. by an animal; death-feud, a feud prosecuted to the death; death-flame = death-fire 1; death-flurry (Whale-fishery), the convulsive struggles of a dying whale after being harpooned (see flurry); also fig.; death grant, a State benefit payable towards the expenses, esp. of a funeral, incurred in connection with a person's death; † death-head = death's-head; death-house, (a) a place where a person dies; (b) colloq., that part of a prison where persons awaiting execution are housed; also, the execution shed; † death-ill (Sc. † dede-ill), mortal illness; death-instinct [tr. G. todestrieb (Freud 1920, Jenseits des Lustprinzips vi)], a destructive or self-destructive tendency postulated by Freud (cf. death-wish); death-mask, a cast of plaster or the like, taken from a person's face after death; death-moss (see quot.); death-moth, the Death's-head Moth; death-or-glory attrib. phr., (a) (with capital initials) a regimental nickname (see quot. 1890); (b) transf.; death-penalty, the penalty of death, capital punishment; death-penny, the obolus placed in the mouth of a corpse, with which to pay the ferryman in Hades; death-pile, a funeral pile; death quamash, a plant of the western U.S., the bulb of which is poisonous to animals; death-rate, the proportion of the number of deaths to the population of a country, town, etc., usually reckoned at so much per thousand per annum; death-rattle, a rattling sound in the throat of a dying person, caused by the partial stoppage of the air-passage by mucus; death-ray, (chiefly in Science Fiction) a ray that causes death; death-ring, a finger-ring constructed to convey poison in shaking hands (W. Jones, Finger-rings 1877, 435); death-roll, a list of the names of those who have been killed in an accident, battle, etc.; death-rope, a gallows-rope; death-ruckle, -ruttle (Sc.) = death-rattle; death-sough (Sc.), ‘the last inspiration of a dying person’ (Jam.); death squad, an armed paramilitary group formed to murder political enemies, suspected subversives, etc.; death-tick = death-watch 1; death-trance, a trance in which the action of the heart, lungs, etc. is so reduced as to produce the semblance of death (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1882); death-trap, applied to any place or structure which is unhealthy or dangerous without its being suspected, and is thus a trap for the lives of the unwary; death-wave (see quots.); death-weight, a small weight placed on the eyelids of a corpse to keep them closed.
1860Chambers' Encycl. s.v. Adder, A very venomous serpent of New South Wales (Acanthophis tortor) is sometimes called the *death-adder. 1615E. Hoby Curry-combe 59 The gracelesse people, who stopped their eares like the death Adder. 1881A Chequered Career 321 The deaf adder, or death adder, as some people miscall it.
1892N.Y. Nation 11 Aug. 107/1 A certain fungus called ‘*death-baby’..fabled to foretell death in the family.
1849Rock Ch. of Fathers II. 383 note, Abp. Lanfranc..allotted the office of drawing up and sending off these *death-bills to the precentor.
1820Scott Abbot xxxviii, A bugle sounded loudly..‘It is the *death-blast to Queen Mary's royalty’, said Ambrosius. 1875tr. Comte de Paris' Hist. Civ. War Amer. I. 456 The storm which in consequence of its periodical return in the beginning of November, sailors call the death-blast.
1933Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Apr. 20/3 Even the semi-civilised Binghi of to-day is not proof against the old belief in the *death-bone.
1889Cent. Dict. s.v. Camass, *Death camass, the poisonous root of Zygadenus venenosus. 1937Range Plant Handbk. (Forest Service, U.S. Dept. Agric.) w209 The more virulent species of death camas cause the majority of sheep losses.
1820St. Kathleen IV. 23 (Jam.) She had for three nights successively seen a *death-candle flitting..along the cliffs.
1925R. T. & F. W. Rolfe Romance of Fungus World iii. 37 Amanita phalloides, sometimes known as the *Death Cap. 1949Oxf. Jun. Encycl. II. 172/1 Many fungi are mildly poisonous, but only one British species, the Death Cap, is deadly poisonous.
1890N.Y. Tribune 7 Aug. 2/1 Kemmler stepped into the *death-chair. 1919Kipling Lett. of Travel (1920) 269 Pinioned men in the death-chair before the current is switched on.
a1851J. Baillie (Ogilvie), Have I done well to give this hoary vet'ran..To the *death-cord, unheard?
1904Westm. Gaz. 6 Oct. 10/1 The ‘*death-cup’ is very abundant in woods in this country.
1865–8F. Parkman France & Eng. in Amer. (1880) 275 The ghostly *death-dance of the breakers.
a1652Brome New Acad. i. Wks. 1873 II. 9 Here's the *death-doing point. 1795Southey Joan of Arc vii. 362 That death-doing foe.
1799G. Smith Laboratory II. 298 (Angling) *Death-drake..taken chiefly in an evening, when the May-fly is almost gone.
1881Gladstone in Daily News 5 Apr. 2/6 My attention has been turned to a much larger subject—the subject of *death duties.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 32 Siþen at Gloucestre *dede euelle him toke. 1559Morwyng Evonym. 256 Angry byles, such as in some mens legges the late wrytars call the deed evill.
1924J. A. Thomson Science Old & New vi. 33 The ‘*death-feigning’ or ‘playing 'possum’ of various animals. 1959Southwood & Leston Land & Water Bugs xii. 355 Pressure on the bug, as by forceps in the laboratory, causes ‘death-feigning’ immobilization.
1820Scott Abbot xi, They have threatened a *death-feud if any one touches us.
1813Hogg Queen's Wake 65 That fays and spectres..spread the *death-flame on the wold.
1860Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. ci. 2 The convulsive effort,—‘*death-flurry’ as the whalers call it,—which is taking place in America on the subject of slavery.
1946National Insurance Act 9 & 10 Geo. 6 c. 67 § 22 A person shall be entitled to a *death grant in respect of the death of any person..if..he has reasonably incurred..expenses..in connection with the funeral of the deceased. 1971Reader's Digest Family Guide to Law 293/1 The Government makes a lump-sum payment, called a death grant, to the next-of-kin of a person who has died, or to the person paying for the funeral.
1771Wesley Wks. (1872) V. 287 They are mere *death-heads; they kill innocent mirth. 1851Longfellow Gold Leg. iv. Refectory, None of your death-heads carved in wood.
1920Masefield Enslaved 8 The place was like a *death-house save for cawings overhead. 1923E. Wallace Missing Million xxxviii. 293 He has three murders behind him, and the grey doors of the death-house in front of him. 1930E. Rice Voyage to Purilia xiii. 168 The death-house—a huge edifice, crowded..with condemned men awaiting execution. 1958G. Mikes East is East 120 The Death House is a Chinese institution. People are sent there to die because the Chinese regard it as bad luck if people die at home. 1960Guardian 2 May 1/7 There is less than 24 hours to go before Chessman leaves the death house..and goes to his..Maker.
c1425Wyntoun Cron. vii. x. 230 In-til hys *Dede-ill quhen he lay. 1675Durham Exp. Commandm. To Rdr. 1 b (Jam.) The death-ill of a natural unrenewed man. 1822Galt Steam-boat 292 (Jam.) Na, na! There's nae dead-ill about Loui.
1922C. J. M. Hubback tr. Freud's Beyond Pleasure Principle vi. 38 The opposition between the ego or *death instincts and the sexual or life instincts would then cease. 1961J. A. C. Brown Freud & Post-Freudians ii. 27 The Death instinct is a force which is constantly working towards death.
1877Dowden Shaks. Primer ii. 29 There exists a *death-mask..which bears the date 1616 and which may be the original cast from the dead poet's face.
1838J. Pardoe River & Desert I. 247 On many..venerable pines hung wreaths of the greyish-coloured, silken parasite which is called in ‘wood-craft’ the *death-moss.
a1821Keats Ode to Melancholy 6 Nor let the beetle, nor the *death-moth be Your mournful Psyche.
1890Farmer Slang I. 199/1 The 17th [Lancers] are still well-known as the *Death or Glory Boys, from their badge, which consists of a death's head, with the words, ‘or glory’. 1959W. K. Richmond Brit. Birds of Prey ix. 116 He is content to play second fiddle and leaves the death-or-glory stuff to his partner. 1962Guardian 20 Dec. 6/1 Sir Roy Welensky's death-or-glory approach to political problems.
1875E. White Life in Christ ii. xiv. (1878) 155 The *death-penalty of the law of Moses.
1863G. J. Whyte-Melville Gladiators III. 258 Scatter a handful of dust over my forehead, and lay the *death-penny on my tongue.
1851Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi Windows ii. 76 Had all the *death-piles of the ancient years Flared up in vain before me?
1884Miller Plant-n. 264/2 Zygadenus venenosus. ‘*Death Quamash’, Hog's Potato.
1859Ann. Rep. Registrar-General p. ii, The *death rate was below the average. 1864Soc. Sc Rev. 68 The death rates in the army had been reduced..by sanitary measures. 1873B. Stewart Conserv. Force i. 1 The death rate..varies with the temperature.
1829Lytton Devereux vi. iv, His lips quivered wildly—I heard the *death-rattle.
1919B. Munn Skeleton Man xxvii. 90 Had the man once used his *death rays he was watched carefully enough to have been caught..red-handed. 1947Crowther & Whiddington Science at War 4 The situation was grave and the public had already begun to long for death-rays that would dispatch the strongest enemy at will. 1961J. B. Priestley Saturn over Water vi. 85 You may have some ridiculous ideas..that we are..discovering fantastic gases or death rays out of science fiction. 1963Ann. Reg. 1962 386 Unlikely rumours were also heard that it might be developed as a military death ray or anti-missile weapon.
1864M. B. Chesnut Diary 1 Aug. (1949) 425 Day after day we read the *death roll. 1873Porcupine XIV. 725/2 Two other actresses also appear on this week's death-roll. 1906Westm. Gaz. 17 Oct. 10/1 The terrible disaster at Seaham in 1880, when the death-roll approximated to nearly 200. 1940Manch. Guardian Weekly 5 Jan. 5 The full extent of the death-roll and damage will not be known for several days.
1815Scott Guy M. xxvii, That was the *death-ruckle—he's dead.
1820Blackw. Mag. Sept. 652 (Jam.) Heard nae ye the lang drawn *death-sough?
1969Times 3 Jan. 3/7 In São Paulo..the new year has brought the macabre news from a mysterious *death squad that 1969 will be ‘a year full of work’. 1976Guardian Weekly 3 Oct. 8 The victims of the assassination schemes are for the most part political moderates, and there seems to be no geographical limit to the operations of the death squads. 1984Daily Mail 20 Oct. 10/1 A student found dead in a London courtyard is believed to have been the victim of a death squad sent from Africa to kill his father.
1853H. Melville Cock-A-Doodle-Doo! in Harper's Mag. Dec. 81/1, I might as well have asked him if he had heard the *death-tick. 1879Jefferies Wild Life in S.C. 207 In the huge beams or woodwork, the death-tick is sure to be heard in the silence of the night.
1835Browning Paracelsus v. 128 This murky, loathsome *Death-trap, this slaughter-house. 1889Spectator 14 Dec. 830 If..the Board schools are death-traps.
1848C. A. Johns Week at Lizard 103 About one in every nine is more boisterous..than the rest: this the fishermen call ‘the *death wave’. 1886J. Milne Earthquakes 171 Phenomena..on the Wexford coast..popularly known as ‘death waves’, probably in consequence of the lives which have been lost by these sudden inundations.
1850Mrs. Browning Poet's Vow v. iv–v, They laid the *death-weights on mine eyes.
▸ death futures n. Business colloq. (chiefly U.S.) life insurance policies belonging to the terminally ill, bought by a third party at less than the mature value, thus affording the policy-holder financial benefits while alive and the investor a return upon the death of the policy-holder; cf. viatical settlement n. at viatical adj. and n. Additions a.
1993Boston Globe 25 July i. 1/3 The product has been called ‘*death futures’, or speculating in death—the sooner the policyholder dies, the faster the return. 1995Seattle Times (Nexis) 25 Nov. a10 In the ‘death futures’ business, a bad disease becomes a good investment. And a life-insurance policy that normally pays out after death provides cash during life—in exchange for profits for an investor. 2000Toronto Star (Electronic ed.) 27 Dec. (heading) ‘Death futures’ come to Ontario.
▸ death match n. (a) Wrestling a match in which many of the normal rules do not apply, typically leading to a more violent and dangerous bout; also in extended use; (b) a multi-player mode in a video game in which the aim is to kill the characters controlled by other players.
1958Albuquerque (New Mexico) Tribune 7 Feb. 20 (advt.) *Death Match to a finish Rip Rogers vs Bulldog Plechas. 1993Re: About Doom & Modem Play in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action (Usenet newsgroup) 8 Nov. My understanding of Death Match Mode is that player start will be random. 1999M. Foley Have Nice Day v. 78 And my goal at that time was simple. It wasn't to be the World Wrestling Federation champ, or to be the King of the Death Match. 2001N.Y. Times 8 July i. 21/4 For decades now, the two [tabloids] have been engaged in a smack-down death match in which the term ‘exclusive’ is liberally applied, the ‘canoodling’ of B-list celebrities is deemed worthy of print, [etc.]. 2006PC Gamer Apr. 143/2 Just because you're in a car it doesn't change the rules of deathmatch. Use nitro to move as fast as you can and never let another car ram you.
▸ death metal n. a form of heavy metal music characterized by lyrics preoccupied with suffering, destruction, and death, and often a deep, growling vocal style.
1984Death Metal (title of record) *Death metal. 1987Guardian 20 Mar. 19/2 Punk and metal are mingling into a hybrid variously called ‘speed’, ‘thrash’ or even ‘death’ metal. 1992Playboy Nov. 19/2 With lyrics such as, to ‘die young is far too boring these days,’ Helmet doesn't quite qualify as death metal. 1999M. Silcott Rave Amer. iv. 114 They confused Satanism with Ozzyland heavy-metalism, saluting each other with the sign of the Beast, wearing badges that proclaimed ‘I love death metal’.
▪ II. death a.
var. of deaf a. in some MSS., and in mod. dial. See also death-adder in death n. 19.
a1500Metr. Life St. Kath. 436 There is made hole dethe and dombe. 1574Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. 116 As he was death, and most dunch, I cried out more in speaking unto him, than I do use in preaching. 1875Sussex Gloss., Death, deaf..‘afflicted with deathness’.
So death v. = deaf v. to deafen.
c1440York Myst. xxxi. 186 Lo! sirs, he dethis vs with dynne!
▪ III. death, a.2 U.S. slang (esp. in African-American usage).
Brit. |dɛθ|, U.S. |dɛθ|
[Probably > n. 16: see quot. 1965, which implies the phrase had also come to be used in a broadened sense.
On quot. 1979 see fuller note s.v. <> adj.]
Excellent, impressive, outstanding. Cf. <> adj.
[1965W. King in Black Short Story Anthol. 309 This doll is a champ on the sheets! She is brutal; death on sheets, man!] 1979G. O'Brien et al. Rapper's Delight (song, perf. ‘Sugarhill Gang’) Someone get a fly girl, gonna get some spank and drive off in a death O.J. 1981W. Safire in N.Y. Times Mag. 18 Jan. 6/3 Deaf [sic]—a mispronunciation of ‘death’—is the current superlative. (In topsyturvytalk, death is the liveliest and baad-baaader-baaadest is the equivalent of ‘good-better-best’.) 1983E. L. Sturz Widening Circles 35 ‘But this looks like a death little workshop to me, run by..cool people.’ (‘Death’ is a term of high praise in the South Bronx). 1992N. George Buppies, B-Boys, Baps & Bohos (1994) i. 46 In ‘Rapper's Delight’ the term ‘Death OJ’ is used. In current slang ‘death’ means something good, while ‘OJ’ is a reference to a big car. |