wake up dead
verb1
To die, particularly in one's sleep.
- The most maddening aspect of time, of course, is how it passes -sneaky fast - moment into moment into millennium, each day a dollop of eternity until, finally, one morning you wake up dead.1988, Mike Nichols, Life and Other Ways to Kill Time, page 206:
- But if tomorrow morning you wake up dead, don't blame me!1999, Dean Barrett, Hangman's Point, section 495:
3 more examples
- Find strength, before your^([sic]) broken down from thoughts that burn away the mind. One day you'll wake up dead.2011, John Orsi, From An Ill Mind, page 43:
- All the sentiment in the world won't be much of a comfort when people like Hal Brognola find out what you've been doing—and they will find out, you know that—and you wake up dead one morning.2013, Don Pendleton, Extraction, page 70:
- Cross her and you'll wake up dead once you get back to the station.2018, Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner, Unearthed, page 12: