ˈdeth noun
( plural deaths -ths sometimes -thz)
Etymology: Middle English deeth, deth, from Old English dēath; akin to Old High German tōd death, Old Norse dauthi, Gothic dauthus; derivative from the root of Old Norse deyja to die — more at die
1. : the ending of all vital functions without possibility of recovery either in animals or plants or any parts of them : the end of life : the act, process, or fact of dying
2.
a. : the cause or occasion of loss of life
drinking was the death of him
: a deadly weapon or agency
a cobra with death in its fangs
b. archaic : plague — see black death
3. usually capitalized : the bringer of death personified and conventionally represented as a skeleton with a scythe : the destroyer of life : grim reaper
4.
a. : the state of being no longer alive
in death as in life
b. : a joyless dull tasteless existence : the state of being without full possession or enjoyment of the intellectual or physical faculties
the death in life of long years spent in a hospital bed
c. : cessation or absence of spiritual life variously conceived as alienation from God, deadness to the appeals of spiritual ideals, annihilation of the spirit as a result of sin, or irredeemable damnation — called also spiritual death
to be carnally minded is death — Rom 8:6 (Authorized Version)
5. : the passing or destruction of something inanimate
the death of the rackety old Third Avenue El — Newsweek
or intangible
the death of all his hopes
the death of vaudeville
: the process of such passing
the death of the empire
: extinction
the death of a species
6. : civil death
7. : lethal or murderous violence : homicide
merchants of death
a man of death — Francis Bacon
8. Christian Science : the lie of life in matter : that which is unreal and untrue : illusion
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- at death's door
- be death on
- in at the death
- to death
- to the death