List of English-language expressions related to death

This is a list of words and phrases related to death in alphabetical order. While some of them are slang, others euphemize the unpleasantness of the subject, or are used in formal contexts. Some of the phrases may carry the meaning of 'kill', or simply contain words related to death. Most of them are idioms.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Expression	Definition	Context	Notes
At peace [1]	Dead	Euphemistic
At rest [1]	Dead	Polite
Augered in	Died via aircraft crash	Slang	As documented in The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Belly up [1]	Dead	Informal	The orientation of fish when dead
Beyond the grave [1]	After death	Neutral	In reference to communication with the dead
Beyond the veil [2]	The mysterious place after death	Neutral	Originally used to refer to the 'veil' that hides the innermost sanctuary of the Temple in Jerusalem. Sometimes refers to just a mysterious place.
Big sleep [2]	To die or be killed	Euphemistic	Could be in reference to Raymond Chandler's 'The Big Sleep'
Bite the dust [2]	To die or be killed	Informal	Also means 'failed'
Bite the big one [2]	To die	Informal	North American.
Born asleep	Stillbirth	Neutral
Breathe one's last [1]	To die	Literary
Brown bread [3]	Dead	Slang	Cockney rhyming slang for 'dead'.
Bought the farm [2]	Died	Slang	Also, shortened to 'bought it'
Bucket list	List of things to do before dying	Popular culture derivation	Derived from the older phrase "kick the bucket"; popularized by the 2007 film The Bucket List
Cargo 200	Corpses of soldiers	Military slang	Military code word used in the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet states referring to the transportation of military casualties
Cark-it [4]	To die	Informal, another version of 'croaked it'; common in UK, Ireland, Australia & New Zealand	The guy was running, had a heart attack and carked it.
Cash in one's chips [2]	To die	Informal, euphemistic [5]	Redemption for cash of gambling counters at the end of a game
Catching the bus [6]	To commit suicide	Slang	Originated from the Usenet newsgroup alt.suicide.holiday
Charon	Ferryman of Hades	Neutral	Crosses the rivers Styx and Acheron which divide the world of the living from the world of the dead
Check out	To die	Euphemism
Choir Eternal	To die	Humorous	British. "Join the choir eternal" Monty Python Dead Parrot Sketch.
Come to a sticky end [1]	To die in a way that is considered unpleasant	Humorous	British. Also 'to meet a sticky end'.
Counting worms [5]	Dead	Euphemistic
Croak [7]	To die	Slang
Crossed the Jordan	Died	Biblical/Revivalist	The deceased has entered the Promised Land (i.e. Heaven)
Curtains	Death	Theatrical	The final curtain at a dramatic performance
Dead as a dodo [2]	Dead	Informal	The 'dodo', flightless bird from the island of Mauritius hunted to extinction
Dead as a doornail [1]	Obviously dead	Informal	Charles Dickens used this phrase at the beginning of A Christmas Carol .
Death by misadventure	Avoidable death	Formal/legal	Death resulting from risk-taking
Decapitation	The act of killing by removing a person's head, usually with an axe or other bladed instrument		A much-favoured method of execution used around the world. Notable examples include the French Revolution via guillotine, and the Tudor times using an axe.
Deleted	Murdered	Literary
Defenestration	The act of killing by throwing a person out of a window
Departed [1]	To die	Neutral
Destroyed	To die	Neutral	Usually refers to the humane killing of an animal
Die in a hole	To die	Slang	Usually used when annoyed at someone
Die with one's boots on	To die while able, or during activity, as opposed to in infirmity or while asleep.	Euphemistic	Old West usage: To die in a gunfight, as with the film They Died with Their Boots On . Also connotes dying in combat. British; cf. Iron Maiden's Die With Your Boots On .
Didn't make it	Killed in action (see below)	Euphemistic
Done for [1]	About to die	Neutral
Drop dead [1]	Die suddenly	Neutral	also slang aggressive dismissal
Dropping like flies [8]	Dying in droves	Simile	also falling ill in numbers
Drop the Body	Died	Euphemistic	Used by new-age spiritually minded people instead of the term died, suggesting that, while the person's body died, his or her spirit lives on
Entered the homeland	1950s Grave England	Euphemistic
Eaten a twinkie [ citation needed ]	Die	Humorous	Relates to a perception among Australians that American food (Twinkies being a quintessential example) is toxic, due to its use of such ingredients (not used in Australian-made products) as high-fructose corn syrup.
Erased	Murdered	Literary
Euthanasia	Assisted suicide	Formal
Expire	Natural end	Neutral
Exterminate	Kill	Directive	Exclaimed by Daleks (from Doctor Who ) when ordered to kill
Extinct	When a species as a whole ceases to exist	Formal
Fading away [1]	To be weakening and close to death	Neutral	Also to be 'fading fast'
Fall off one's perch [9]	To die	Informal
Fall off the toilet	To die, often in an untimely or unexpected manner	Informal
Food for worms [2]	Someone who is dead	Slang	Also 'worm food'
Fratricide	Murder among siblings	Formal
Free one's horses	To die	Neutral
Game end	To kill	Informal
Genocide	To completely exterminate all of a kind	Formal
Get smoked	To be killed	Slang
Give up the ghost [2]	To die	Neutral	The soul leaving the body
Glue factory	To die	Neutral	Usually refers to the death of a horse
Gone to a better place [10]	To die	Euphemistic	Heaven
Go over the Big Ridge [11]	To die	Unknown
Go bung [2]	To die	Informal	Australian. Also means 'to fail' or 'to go bankrupt'.
Go for a Burton	To die/break irreparably	Informal	British, from WWII.
Go to Davy Jones's locker [2]	To drown or otherwise die at sea	Euphemistic	Peregrine Pickle describes Davy Jones as 'the fiend that presides over all the evil spirits of the deep'.
Go to the big [place] in the sky	To die and go to heaven	Informal	A place in the afterlife paralleling the deceased's life, such as "Big ranch in the sky". [12]
Go home in a box [13]	To be shipped to one's birthplace, dead	Slang, euphemistic [5]
Go out with one's boots on/with a bang/in style	To die while doing something enjoyed	Informal
Go to, or head for, the last roundup [11]	To die	Euphemistic	Associated with dying cowboys, along with "Going to that big ranch in the sky."
Go to one's reward [2]	To die	Euphemistic	Final reckoning, just deserts after death
Go to one's watery grave [1]	To die of drowning	Literary
Go to a Texas cakewalk [11]	To be hanged	Unknown
Go the way of all flesh [2]	To die	Neutral
Go west [2]	To be killed or lost	Informal	Refers to the sun setting at the west.
The Grim Reaper [2]	Personification of death	Cultural	A skeleton with a scythe, often in a cloak. Also commonly truncated to just "The Reaper".
Hand in one's dinner pail [2]	To die	Informal	No longer required at workmen's canteen
Happy hunting ground	Dead	Informal	Used to describe the afterlife according to Native Americans
Hara-kiri	(Ritual) suicide by disembowelment	Japanese	See Seppuku. Often misspelled as Hari-kari.
Have one foot in the grave [2]	To be close to death because of illness or age	Informal, sometimes humorous
History	Dead	Informal	Usually interpreted as "to be history."
(Get) Hit by a bus	To die suddenly and prematurely	Informal
Hop on the last rattler [5]	To die	Euphemistic	"Rattler" is a slang expression for a freight train.
Hop the twig [2]	To die	Informal	Also 'to hop the stick'. Pagan belief that to jump a stick on the ground leads to the Afterworld.
In Abraham's bosom [2]	In heaven	Neutral	From the Holy Bible, Luke 16:22.
It's clipped	To die/be killed	Slang	New York Slang for saying something is over.
Join the choir invisible [14]	To die	Neutral	From an 1867 poem by George Eliot
Join the great majority [2]	To die	Euphemistic	First used by Edward Young, but the phrase 'the majority' is extremely old.
Justifiable homicide	Homicide	Formal	A deliberate homicide that is not a criminal act because the surrounding circumstances justified the use of deadly force. Defending oneself against a deadly attack, for example, or conducting a legally ordered execution.
Kermit (suicide)	To commit suicide, usually via falling from a great height	Humorous	Originated from a remixed video of Kermit the Frog from Sesame Street and a Kermit the Frog doll falling off a building. [15]
Kick the bucket [2]	To die	Informal	In suicidal hanging. [16] Also 'kick off' (American). [1]
Kick the calendar	To die	Slang, informal	Polish saying. 'Calendar' implies somebody's time of death (kicking at particular moment of time)
Killed In Action (KIA)	Death of military personnel due to enemy action	Military language, official and informal use
King of Terrors [2]	Personification of death	Neutral	Of Biblical origin, found in Job 18:14 Also refers to death itself
Kiss one's arse goodbye	Prepare to die	Slang
Late [17]	Used to refer to the recently dead [17]	Euphemism [17]
Lights out	To die	Slang	Going into Eternal Oblivion
Liquidation	To be killed	Euphemism	Usually used in political context (such as purges), implies dehumanization.
Live on a farm (upstate)	To die	Euphemism	Usually referring to the death of a pet, especially if the owners are parents with children, i.e. "The dog went to live on a farm."
Lose one's life [1]	To die in an accident or violent event	Neutral
Lost	To die in an accident or violent event
Make the ultimate sacrifice [1]	To die while fighting for a cause	Formal	Also 'make the supreme sacrifice'
Matricide	Mother murdered	Formal
Meet one's maker [2]	To die	Euphemistic	According to Christian belief, soul meets God for final judgment
Murder Death Kill (MDK)	Homicide	TV/Movie	From 1993 film Demolition Man
Night	The state of death	Euphemism	From the poem by Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night."
Not long for this world [1]	Will die soon; have little time left to live	Old-fashioned
Not with us anymore	Dead	Euphemistic
Off on a boat [5]	To die	Euphemistic	Viking
Off the hooks [2]	Dead	Informal	British. Not to be confused with 'off the hook' (no longer in trouble).
On one's deathbed [1]	Dying	Neutral
On one's last legs [2]	About to die	Informal
On the wrong side of the grass	Dead	Euphemistic slang	Refers to the practice of burying the dead. Such individuals are below the grass as opposed to above it, hence being on the "wrong side".
One's hour has come [1]	About to die	Literary
One's number is up [1]	One is going to die	Slang
Oofed	To die	Humorous	Popularized from the video game Roblox; likely invented to circumvent in-game chat filters. When referring to suicide, one may "oof themselves".
Pass away [1]	To die	Euphemism; polite	Also 'to pass on'
Pass in one's alley [2]	To die	Informal	Australian
Patricide	Father murdered	Formal
Pay the ultimate price [1]	To die for a cause or principle	Neutral	Similar to "To make the ultimate sacrifice"
Peg out [1]	To die	Slang	British. Also means 'to stop working'
Peppered	To be shot to death	Slang	Usually refers to being shot multiple times (i.e. peppered with bullet holes).
Perish	Synonym for death	Neutral
Pop one's clogs [2]	To die	Humorous, [1] Informal [2]	British. "Pop" is English slang for "pawn." A 19th-century working man might tell his family to take his clothes to the pawn shop to pay for his funeral, with his clogs among the most valuable items.
Promoted to Glory	Death of a Salvationist	Formal	Salvation Army terminology.
Pull the plug [2]	To kill, or allow to die	Euphemism	Removal of life support, such as turning off the power, or "pull the plug" on a ventilator keeping someone alive.
Pumped full of lead	Shot to death	Informal	Typically refers to being shot multiple times.
Push up daisies [2]	To have died and be buried under the ground	Humorous, [1] Euphemistic [5]	Early 20th century—also 'under the daisies', and 'turn one's toes up to the daisies', which date back to the mid-19th century. (See 'to turn up one's toes' below.)
Put down/put to sleep	To be euthanised	Euphemism	Euthanasia of an animal
Put one to the sword	To kill someone	Literary
Rainbow Bridge	Dead	Euphemism	Usually referring to the death of a pet, e.g. "Crossing the Rainbow Bridge."
Reset character	To die	Euphemistic slang	Refers to video games where "resetting one's character" involves deliberately killing them and letting them respawn or load from a save.
Ride the pale horse [5]	To die	Euphemistic	In the Biblical passage Revelation 6:8, a pale horse is ridden by Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The expression "behold a pale horse" has been used as the title of a 1964 film by Fred Zinnemann and a 1991 book by ufologist William Milton Cooper.
Run one through	To kill someone, usually by stabbing	Euphemism
Send one to Eternity or to the Promised Land	To kill someone	Literary
Go/send to Belize	To die/to kill somebody	Euphemism	From Season 5 of the television series Breaking Bad
Send (or go) to the farm	To die	Euphemism	Usually referring to the death of a pet, especially if the owners are parents of young children e.g. "The dog was sent to a farm."
Sewerslide	To commit suicide	Humorous	21st century slang. Likely invented to circumvent internet censorship.
Shade	The state of death	Euphemism	From the poem "Invictus," by William Ernest Henley: "Beyond this place of wrath and tears, Looms but the horror of the shade."
Shake hands with Elvis	To die	Euphemism	Shake hands with a well-known person who has (presumably) died.
Shuffle off this mortal coil [1]	To die	Humorous, Literary [2]	From the To be, or not to be soliloquy from Shakespeare's Hamlet .
Six feet under [2]	Dead	Informal	Six feet is the traditional depth of a grave
Sleeping with the fishes	Murdered, then disposed of in water.	Slang	Popularized by The Godfather
Slipped away	To die peacefully	Slang	Possibly originated from the poem "Death is Nothing at All" written by Reverend Henry Scott Holland in 1910 following the death of King Edward VII.
Snuffed out	Murdered	Literary	As in extinguishing a candle, or simply "snuff it"
Step off	To die	Informal, euphemistic	Character Ron Birdwell in the movie The Late Show (1977): "I'm always sorry to hear any of God's creatures stepping off."
Struck down [1]	To be killed by an illness	Neutral	Usually passive
Suicide	To take one's own life	Formal
Sunset	Dead	Formal
Swim with concrete shoes	Gangster murder	Slang
Take a dirt nap [18]	To die and be buried	Slang
Take a last bow [5]	To die	Slang
Take one's own life	To commit suicide	Euphemism
Take/took the easy way out [19]	To commit suicide	Euphemism	Based on the original meaning of the phrase of taking the path of least resistance.
Take the last train to glory [2]	To die	Euphemism	An idiom Christian in origin.
Tango Uniform [ citation needed ]	Dead, irreversibly broken	Military slang	This is "T.U." in the NATO phonetic alphabet, an abbreviation for Tits Up (which is itself an euphemism for an airplane crash).
Terminate; especially, terminate with extreme prejudice	To kill; especially when carrying out an assassination as part of a covert operation.	Euphemism; military slang	Originated during the Vietnam War; later popularized by the films Apocalypse Now and The Terminator
The Big Adios	To die	Euphemistic slang	Ex: "Live life to the fullest before the big Adios!"
To join the whisperers	To die	Euphemism	From the television series Lost : the Whispers were voices of those who died, yet were unable to move on and therefore remained on the island as whispers
Toaster bath	Committing suicide via dropping an active toaster in a bathtub	21st century slang
Topped yourself	Committed suicide	Slang
Turn up one's toes [2]	To die	Slang	An alternative of 'turn one's toes up to the daisies' (see 'push up daisies' above.)
Unalive (also un-alive)	To die, or to kill	Euphemistic slang	A euphemism that developed in slang on social media, particularly TikTok, to avoid censorship of the words "kill" and "die."
Unsubscribe from life	To die	Euphemistic	21st century slang
Up and die	Unexpected death, leaving loose ends	Euphemistic
Waste [20]	To kill	Slang
Wearing a pine overcoat (i.e. a wooden coffin)[ citation needed ]	Dead	Slang	Idiom used by American gangsters of the early 20th century.
Wiped out	Dead, usually if multiple individuals die	Neutral
Worm food or worm bait	Dead	Slang

See also

• The "Dead Parrot sketch" contains several euphemisms for death ("is no more", "has ceased to be", "bereft of life, it rests in peace", and "this is an ex-parrot")
• Wikisaurus:die
• Wikisaurus:death
• List of death deities
• List of Russian-language euphemisms for dying

References

1. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
2. Oxford Dictionary of Idioms
3. "Cockney Rhyming Slang".
4. "Cark-it Meaning | Best 1 Definitions of Cark-it".
5. Terry Deary, Horrible Histories: Wicked Words p. 52-53
6. "The sordid history of the first sanctioned suicide forum". The Daily Dot. 2016-12-11. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
7. "The Free Dictionary: Croak". The Free Dictionary.
8. "The Free Dictionary: Drop like flies". The Free Dictionary.
9. Michael McCarthy, Felicity O'Dell. English Idioms in Use. Cambridge University Press. p. 10. ISBN   0-521-78957-5.
10. "Dead People Go To A Better Place". doorofhope.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008.
11. "How did the expression kick the bucket come about when someone dies?". EducationAsk.com.
12. "Bevo XIII, longest-tenured Longhorns mascot, dies". ESPN. Associated Press. Oct 10, 2006.
13. "The Free Dictionary: Go home in a box". The Free Dictionary.
14. "Oh, may I join the Choir invisibleArion". The poems of George Eliot (Crowell, 1884).
15. "I Am Going to Kermit Suicide". Know Your Meme. 27 May 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
16. Terry Deary, Horrible Histories: Wicked Words, p. 56
17. Holder, R. W. (2008). Dictionary of Euphemisms. Oxford University Press. p. 242. ISBN   978-0-19-9235179. Late: Usually in connection to someone recently deceased.
18. "The Free Dictionary: Take a Dirt Nap". The Free Dictionary.
19. "take the easy way out". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
20. "Definition of WASTE". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2022-02-01.