between life and death

between life and death

In a precarious or dangerous situation that could result in one's death. That horrific car accident left Kara between life and death.
See also: and, between, death, life
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

between life and death

Fig. in a position where living or dying is an even possibility. (Especially with caught or hovering.) And there I was on the operating table, hovering between life and death. The mountain climber hung by his rope, caught between life and death.
See also: and, between, death, life
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • dance with death
  • have (someone's) blood on (one's) head
  • like death warmed over
  • brush with death
  • from the dead
  • sign (someone's) death warrant
  • sign someone's death warrant
  • snatch
  • be snatched from the jaws of death
  • be snatched out of the jaws of death
References in classic literature
And the more imbued he became with that principle of love, the more he renounced life and the more completely he destroyed that dreadful barrier which- in the absence of such love- stands between life and death. When during those first days he remembered that he would have to die, he said to himself: "Well, what of it?
It was the last spiritual struggle between life and death, in which death gained the victory.
War and Peace