die
pronunciation
How to pronounce die in British English:
UK [daɪ]
How to pronounce die in American English:
US [daɪ]
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- Noun:
- small cubes with 1 to 6 spots on the faces; used to generate random numbers
- a device used for shaping metal
- a cutting tool that is fitted into a diestock and used for cutting male (external) screw threads on screws or bolts or pipes or rods
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- Verb:
- pass from physical life and lose all all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
- suffer or face the pain of death
- be brought to or as if to the point of death by an intense emotion such as embarrassment, amusement, or shame
- stop operating or functioning
- feel indifferent towards
- languish as with love or desire
- cut or shape with a die
- to be on base at the end of an inning, of a player
- lose sparkle or bouquet
- disappear or come to an end
- suffer spiritual death; be damned (in the religious sense)
Word Origin
- die
- die: English has two distinct words die. The noun, ‘cube marked with numbers’, is now more familiar in its plural form (see DICE). The verb, ‘stop living’ [12], was probably borrowed from Old Norse deyja ‘die’. This, like English dead and death, goes back ultimately to an Indo- European base *dheu-, which some have linked with Greek thánatos ‘dead’.It may seem strange at first sight that English should have borrowed a verb for such a basic concept as ‘dying’ (although some have speculated that a native Old English verb *dīegan or *dēgan did exist), but in fact it is a not uncommon phenomenon for ‘die’ verbs to change their meaning euphemistically, and therefore to need replacing by new verbs. In the case of the Old English verbs for ‘die’, steorfan survives as starve and sweltan in its derivative swelter, while cwelan is represented by the related cwellan ‘kill’, which has come down to us as quell.=> dead, death
- die (v.)
- mid-12c., possibly from Old Danish døja or Old Norse deyja "to die, pass away," both from Proto-Germanic *dawjan (cognates: Old Frisian deja "to kill," Old Saxon doian, Old High German touwen, Gothic diwans "mortal"), from PIE root *dheu- (3) "to pass away, die, become senseless" (cognates: Old Irish dith "end, death," Old Church Slavonic daviti, Russian davit' "to choke, suffer"). It has been speculated that Old English had *diegan, from the same source, but it is not in any of the surviving texts and the preferred words were steorfan (see starve), sweltan (see swelter), wesan dead, also forðgan and other euphemisms. Languages usually don't borrow words from abroad for central life experiences, but "die" words are an exception, because they are often hidden or changed euphemistically out of superstitious dread. A Dutch euphemism translates as "to give the pipe to Maarten." Regularly spelled dege through 15c., and still pronounced "dee" by some in Lancashire and Scotland. Used figuratively (of sounds, etc.) from 1580s. Related: Died; dies.
- die (n.)
- early 14c. (as a plural, late 14c. as a singular), from Old French de "die, dice," which is of uncertain origin. Common Romanic (cognates: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian dado, Provençal dat, Catalan dau), perhaps from Latin datum "given," past participle of dare (see date (n.1)), which, in addition to "give," had a secondary sense of "to play" (as a chess piece); or else from "what is given" (by chance or Fortune). Sense of "stamping block or tool" first recorded 1690s.
Example
- 1. I still pray I won 't die suddenly .
- 2. I thought you were gonna die .
- 3. So what is the best way to die ?
- 4. Harrison was the first president to die in office .
- 5. He thought he was going to die .