[death] n [ME deeth, fr. OE death; akin to ON dauthi death, deyja to die--more at die] (bef. 12c) 1: a permanent cessation of all vital functions: the end of life--compare brain death
2: the cause or occasion of loss of life "drinking was the ~ of him" 3 cap: the destroyer of life represented usu. as a skeleton with a scythe
4: the state of being dead
5. a: the passing or destruction of something inanimate "the ~ of vaudeville" b: extinction
6: civil death 7: slaughter
8. Christian Science: the lie of life in matter: that which is unreal and untrue: illusion -- at death's door : close to death: critically ill -- to death : beyond endurance: excessively "bored to death"