DEATH

[noun] - the end of life She lived here for four years before her death. [C]Their sudden deaths in a car crash shocked everyone. [C]The disease causes thousands of deaths a year.He died a natural death, peacefully at home in the night. [C]It was a traditional picture of Death in the form of a skeleton. [U]Famous people often receive death threats (= letters or telephone calls from people who threaten to kill them).To death means until you die, or (figurative) a lotThe animals burned to death in the barn.He choked to death on a sweet.(old use) The traitor was put to death (= killed as a punishment).(figurative) It was really funny. We laughed ourselves to death.(figurative) The film frightened/scared/worried the children to death.(figurative) They worked her to death (= made her work very hard).(figurative) That subject has been discussed/done to death (= it has been discussed so much that it is no longer interesting).I am sick to death of it/bored to death with it.The death of means the cause of the end of life, or the end or destruction of something.The failure of the family business was the death of him.The court case signalled the death of his hopes for public office.That child will be the death of me (= is always doing something which upsets me)!If you don't put some warm clothes on, you'll catch your death (of cold) (= become ill).(informal) If you are at death's door, you are very ill.(informal) If you look/feel like death (UK and ANZ warmed up/US warmed over), you do not look/feel well.(UK) To be in at the death is to be present at the important time when something comes to an end.The girl made a death-defying (= very dangerous) leap to the ground/dash across the road.(UK) Death duty/duties (US death tax/ANZ also probate) is the informal name for a government tax paid on the property that a dead person has left.A death's head is a picture of a human skull (= the hard structure of the head) used as a warning of danger or to frighten.A death knell is a warning of the end of something.Some workers saw the machines as a death knell for traditional skills.If something sounds/tolls the death knell, it will soon stop another thing.The court case sounded the death knell of/for his political ambitions.The opening of the superstore will toll the death knell for (= cause the failure of) hundreds of small independent shops.A death mask is made by pressing wax onto the face of a dead person to get the shape from which a model of the face is produced.The death penalty is the legal punishment of particular crimes by death.The death penalty has been abolished in Britain - several votes in parliament have failed to reintroduce it.(esp. US) Prisoners on death row are waiting in prison to be legally punished by being killed.A death sentence is a legal punishment of a crime by death.In some countries people caught smuggling drugs are given the death sentence.A death squad is an unofficial armed group who look for and illegally kill particular people, esp. the enemies of a political party.The family lived in fear of the death squads.We watched the death throes (= process of dying) of the bird which had flown into the window.The death toll is the number of people who died on a particular occasion.The day after the explosion the death toll had risen to 90.A death trap is something that is very dangerous and could cause death.The car he met me in was a death trap.Empty bottles thrown carelessly away can become death traps for small creatures.A death warrant is an official document which says that smeone must be killed as a punishment, or (figurative) something that causes the end of an activity.(figurative) The cancellation of a large order was a death warrant for the company/signed the company's death warrant (= caused the business to fail).(figurative) By refusing to take on extra responsibility he signed his own death warrant (= lost his chance of a better job).A death wish is a desire for death.The chances he takes, you'd think he had a death wish.