die off

Related to die off: die out

die off

To become extinct gradually, as of a group of people or animals. That species of birds will die off if we keep destroying their habitat.
See also: die, off
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

die off

[for a living thing] to perish one by one until there are no more. Most of the larger lizards died off eons ago. It would be really bad if all the owls died off. The cucumber blossoms all died off.
See also: die, off
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

die off

Perish one by one, as in A celibate community, the Shakers are dying off. [Late 1600s]
See also: die, off
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

die off

v.
To become extinct gradually: The dodo died off in the 1600s. Wolves were dying off in the formerly rural area as new subdivisions were built.
See also: die, off
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • die by
  • die by (something)
  • it's to die
  • die with (one's) boots on
  • die with one's boots on
  • die with your boots on
  • to die for
  • fixing to die
  • die like a dog
  • die like a dog, to
References in periodicals archive
Although other researchers have isolated bacteria in the lab that can degrade specific toxic chemicals, the same bacteria usually die off when released at a cleanup site, says Madsen.
Normally in any organism, some cells die off naturally and others multiply to take their places.
Sets of species may persist through major extinction events only to die off in the after-math, new research suggests.
When the spine is severely bruised, some nerve cells die off immediately.
The plaque damages vital light-sensing cells, and as these die off, vision--especially in the center of a person's field--fades.
Their goal: to reduce local mollusks so that larval worms fail to find a host and simply die off.
McFall-Ngai's group has found that the ciliated cells die off within days after the bacteria arrive.
Fetal tissue transplants have reversed the ravages of Parkinson's disease, a condition in which brain cells manufacturing dopamine die off (SN: 11/28/92, p.372).
Rather than die off, the cells that have sustained damage to their DNA survive and keep on dividing.