Etymology From Middle English deyen, probably from Old Norse deyja, from Proto-Germanic *dawjaną (“to die”). Displaced native Old English sweltan, whence Modern English swelt, and Old English steorfan, whence modern starve.
Returne with ſpeed, time paſſeth ſwift away, Our life is fraile, and we may dye to day.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:
The cheeks drop in; the body bows; Man dies: nor is there hope in dust: […]1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 54:
2
followed by of as an indication of direct cause; general use
He died of malaria.
"What did she die of, Work'us?" said Noah. "Of a broken heart, some of our old nurses told me," replied Oliver[…].1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 6, in Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
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In 1971 or 72, Mom's sister Carolyn Weimer died of breast cancer.2000, Stephen King, On Writing, Pocket Books, published 2002, page 85:
3
followed by from as an indication of direct cause; general use, though somewhat more common in the context of medicine or the sciences
He died from heart failure.
She lived several weeks; but afterwards she died from epilepsy, to which malady she had been previously subject.1865 March 4, British Medical Journal, page 213:
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"Or all of them will die from the plague. Even if most of the candidates succumb […]"2007, Frank Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, Sandworms of Dune, Tor, published 2007, page 191:
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followed by for; often expressing wider contextual motivations, though sometimes indicating direct causes
He died for the one he loved.
Englishmen are dying for England, Americans are dying for America, Germans are dying for Germany, Russians are dying for Russia. There are now fifty or sixty countries fighting in this war.1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22, Simon & Schuster, published 1999, page 232:
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Less than three days later, Johnson lapsed into a coma in his jail cell and died for lack of insulin.2003, Tara Herivel, Paul Wright, editors, Prison Nation, Routledge, page 187:
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Archaic followed by with as an indication of direct cause
Therefore let Benedicke like covered fire, / Consume away in sighes, waste inwardly: / It were a better death, to die with mockes, / Which is as bad as die with tickling.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year was very frequent in the land.1830, Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, Richards, published 1854, page 337:
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Proscribed, Sometimes followed by to as an indication of direct cause (like from)
I can't believe I just died to a turret!
Dr Thomas concluded she had died to a blow to the head, which led to a bleed on the brain, probably a fall and had hit her head hard on the wooden bedpost, as there was blood on the bedpost.2014, S. J. Groves, The Darker Side to Dr Carter, page 437:
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followed by with as an indication of manner
She died with dignity.
8
In bare form to die in a certain form.
Will I die a happy man?
9
To (stop living and) undergo (a specified death).
He died a hero's death.
They died a thousand deaths.
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[…] he chose instead to suffer even greater personal pain, with unimaginable fortitude and resolve, albeit for a shorter time. Thus he died a small death, in order to benefit the living. Similarly, a small and voluntary death was died by Socrates.2019, Lou Marinoff, On Human Conflict: The Philosophical Foundations of War and Peace, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 452:
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Video gamesSlang To lose or be eliminated from a game, particularly with a deathlike animation.
Whenever my brother dies, he ragequits.
Of course, Nazis are not present in this game. Instead, we have animals that will try to cover you with dirt. As soon as you get too dirty, you will die.1995, “Slobzone”, in Coming Soon! magazine (video game review), archived from the original on 08 Feb 2023:
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Oh look, I just died.[…]I missed that jump again! That was dumb! Hey, I just died on the same freakin' Zinger.2009, Brian Sulpher, 9:15–9:30 from the start, in Onto Doom And Gloom (video game playthrough), via youtube:
Yes, and his ill conditions; and in despite of all, dies for him.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
I could see that he was dying, dying for a cigarette, dying for a fix maybe, dying for a little bit of freedom, but trapped in a hospital bed and a sick body.2004, Paul Joseph Draus, Consumed in the city: observing tuberculosis at century's end, page 168:
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Idiomatic, Uncommon To be or become hated or utterly ignored or cut off, as if dead.
The day our sister eloped, she died to our mother.
"My dad […] beat us until we couldn't sit down." […] "What about your mother?" […] "She's alive. […] My aunt visits her once a year, but I don't ask about my mother. She died to me the day she chose my father over protecting us." Luke's voice hitched with emotion.2015, Emily Duvall, Inclusions, page 150:
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"You haven't been my son since you were ten years old. That boy died to me the day he ran away. I don't know you. You are merely a shell that resembles someone I used to know, but you are dead to me. You are the bringer of pain and death. Leave me be. Leave me with my son, Jyosh." "Mother..." Barlun pleaded.2017, Mike Hoornstra, Descent into the Maelstrom, page 366:
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Figuratively To become spiritually dead; to lose hope.
He died a little inside each time she refused to speak to him.
Do you know that I went down / To the ground / Landed on both my broken-hearted knees... / […]I didn't even cry / 'Cause pieces of me had already died2011, Ingrid Michaelson, “Ghost”, in Human Again:
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Made it out alive, but I think I lost it Said that I was fine, said it from the coffin Remember how I died when you started walking? That's my life, that's my life2024, Gracie Abrams, Audrey Hobert, “That's So True”, in The Secret of Us, performed by Gracie Abrams:
If anyone sees me wearing this ridiculous outfit, I'll die.
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Excessive, Figuratively To be so overcome with emotion or laughter as to be incapacitated.
When I found out my two favorite musicians would be recording an album together, I literally planned my own funeral arrangements and died.
I literally died when I saw that.1976, an anchorman on Channel Five in California, quoted in Journal and Newsletter [of the] California Classical Association, Northern Section
16
Of a machine To stop working; to break down or otherwise lose "vitality".
My car died in the middle of the freeway this morning.
Sorry I couldn't call you. My phone died.
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My battery died and my charger was at home.
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Of a computer program To abort, to terminate (as an error condition).
18
To expire at the end of the session of a legislature without having been brought to a vote.
Of a legislative bill or resolution
The proposed gas tax died after the powerful rural senator refused to let it out of committee.
19
To perish; to cease to exist; to become lost or extinct.
letting the secret die within his own breast1714 September 25 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, September 15, 1714”, in The Spectator, number 594; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
Great deeds cannot die.1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
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Through all the Worlds are sounds, the noises of moving, and the echoes of voices and song; but upon the River is no sound ever heard, for there all echoes die.1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 88:
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To sink; to faint; to pine; to languish, with weakness, discouragement, love, etc.
But it came to passe in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 25:37:
When the truth is found to be lies / And all the joy within you dies / Don't you want somebody to love? / Don't you need somebody to love?1965, Darby Slick, “Somebody to Love”, in Surrealistic Pillow, performed by Jefferson Airplane, published 1967:
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Often, With "to" To become indifferent; to cease to be subject.
to die to pleasure or to sin
22
Architecture To disappear gradually in another surface, as where mouldings are lost in a sloped or curved face.
23
To become vapid, flat, or spiritless, as liquor.
24
Slang To fail to evoke laughter from the audience.
Of a stand-up comedian or a joke
Then there was that time I died onstage in Montreal...
Etymology From Middle English dee, from Old French de (Modern French dé), from Latin datum, from datus (“given”), the past participle of dō (“to give”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to lay out, to spread out”). Doublet of datum. Replaced Old English tasul, tesul (“die”), from Latin tessella (“die, cube”).
A device used to cut an external screw thread. (Internal screw threads are cut with a tap.)
4
A mold for forming metal or plastic objects.
5
An embossed device used in stamping coins and medals.
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Dice, GamesAlso An oblong chip fractured from a semiconductor wafer engineered to perform as an independent device or integrated circuit.
The number of dies per wafer is basically the area of the wafer divided by the area of the die.2002, John L. Hennessy, David A. Patterson, Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 19:
Once the wafer has undergone the wafer-probe test, it is separated into individual dice by sawing or scribing and breaking. The dice are visually inspected, sorted, and readied for assembly into packages.2009, Paul R. Gray, Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits, 5th edition, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 159:
7
Any small cubical or square body.
Some young creatures have learnt their letters and syllables, and the pronouncing and spelling of words, by having them pasted or written upon many little flat tablets or dies.1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC:
die
adv
Etymology Borrowed from Latin die (“[in a] day”), locative of Latin dies (“day”).
Etymology From Middle English dee, from Old French de (Modern French dé), from Latin datum, from datus (“given”), the past participle of dō (“to give”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to lay out, to spread out”). Doublet of datum. Replaced Old English tasul, tesul (“die”), from Latin tessella (“die, cube”).
1
An isohedral polyhedron, usually a cube, with numbers or symbols on each side and thrown in games of chance.
Most dice are six-sided.
I rolled the die and moved 2 spaces on the board.
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If a Dye were mark’d with one Figure or Number of Spots on four Sides, and with another Figure or Number of Spots on the two remaining Sides, ’twould be more probable, that the former ſhould turn up than the latter;1748, [David Hume], “Of Probability”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 94:
When you roll two dies—or three, or four—the odds of obtaining a specific number becomes complex in a logarithmic progression.2000, Richard Shoup, edited by Barry Lenson, Take Control Of Your Life: How to Control Fate, Luck, Chaos, Karma, and Life’s Other Unruly Forces, McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 42:
We roll two dies repeatedly until we get the first double.2012, Rinaldo B. Schinazi, “Probability Space”, in Probability with Statistical Applications, 2nd edition, Birkhäuser, →ISBN, “Independent Events”, “Exercises”, page 16:
Roll two dies 24 times. What is the probability of rolling at least one double 6?2014, Ionut Florescu, Ciprian A. Tudor, Handbook of Probability, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., →ISBN:
2
Obsolete That which is, or might be, determined, by a throw of the die; hazard; chance.
[…]For th'equall die of warre he well did know.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 249: