death
pronunciation
How to pronounce death in British English:
UK [deθ]
How to pronounce death in American English:
US [deθ]
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- Noun:
- the event of dying or departure from life
- the permanent end of all life functions in an organism or part of an organism
- the time at which life ends; continuing until dead
- the absence of life or state of being dead
- the time when something ends
- the act of killing
- a final state
Word Origin
- death
- death: [OE] Like dead, death comes from a Germanic verb base *dau-, which also produced English die. To it was added the abstract noun suffix *-tus, later *-thuz, meaning ‘act, process, condition’. This produced prehistoric Germanic *dauthuz, source of Gothic dauthus, Old Norse dauthr, and Old English dēath. Its modern English descendant, death, thus means literally ‘act or process of dying’, in the same way as birth means ‘act or process of bearing’ and strength means ‘condition of being strong’.=> dead, die
- death (n.)
- Old English deað "death, dying, cause of death," in plura, "ghosts," from Proto-Germanic *dauthuz (cognates: Old Saxon doth, Old Frisian dath, Dutch dood, Old High German tod, German Tod, Old Norse dauði, Danish død, Swedish död, Gothic dauþus "death"), from verbal stem *dheu- (3) "to die" (see die (v.)) + *-thuz suffix indicating "act, process, condition." I would not that death should take me asleep. I would not have him meerly seise me, and onely declare me to be dead, but win me, and overcome me. When I must shipwrack, I would do it in a sea, where mine impotencie might have some excuse; not in a sullen weedy lake, where I could not have so much as exercise for my swimming. [John Donne, letter to Sir Henry Goodere, Sept. 1608] Death's-head, a symbol of mortality, is from 1590s. Death row first recorded 1940s. Death knell is attested from 1814; death penalty from 1875; death rate from 1859. Slang be death on "be very good at" is from 1839. Death wish first recorded 1896. The death-watch beetle (1660s) inhabits houses, makes a ticking noise like a watch, and was superstitiously supposed to portend death. FEW ears have escaped the noise of the death-watch, that is, the little clickling sound heard often in many rooms, somewhat resembling that of a watch; and this is conceived to be of an evil omen or prediction of some person's death: wherein notwithstanding there is nothing of rational presage or just cause of terror unto melancholy and meticulous heads. For this noise is made by a little sheathwinged grey insect, found often in wainscot benches and wood-work in the summer. [Browne, "Vulgar Errors"]
Example
- 1. What do you think happens after death ?
- 2. The rashes rarely cause death .
- 3. Addams ran hull house until her death in 1935 .
- 4. Until his death he treated the injured prisoners .
- 5. By beating death will we have lost our essential humanity ?