death

at death's door so ill that you may die.

2005Andre66A Beautiful Revolution Cough, cough, splutter, splutter; I don't feel very well. I feel shit. I'm at death's door. The end of the world is nigh.

be the death of cause someone's death.

☞ Be the death of is generally used as an exaggerated or humorous way of describing the effects of laughter, embarrassment, boredom, or similar emotions.

2002R. J. BaileyFar in the Hills Those stairs will be the death of me. I gotta give up them ready rolls!

be frightened to death be made very alarmed and fearful. informal

be in at the death

1 be present when a hunted animal is caught and killed.

2 be present when something fails or comes to an end.

catch your death (of cold) catch a severe cold or chill. informal

a death's head at the feast: seefeast.

dice with death: seedice.

die a (or the) death come to an end; cease or fail to be popular or successful.

1999Linedancer Our industry must expand … otherwise it will die a death with just a few clubs remaining.

do something to death perform or repeat something so frequently that it becomes tediously familiar.

a fate worse than death: seefate.

kiss of death: seekiss.

like death warmed up extremely tired or ill. informal

☞ Like death warmed up was originally military slang, recorded from the 1930s. The North American version is like death warmed over.

like grim death: seegrim.

a matter of life and death: seelife.

sick to death: seesick.

sign your own death warrant: seesign.