Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Death
Death
(dĕth)
, Noun.
1.
The cessation of all vital phenomena without capability of resuscitation, either in animals or plants.
☞ Local death is going on at all times and in all parts of the living body, in which individual cells and elements are being cast off and replaced by new; a process essential to life. General death is of two kinds; death of the body as a whole (somatic or systemic death), and death of the tissues. By the former is implied the absolute cessation of the functions of the brain, the circulatory and the respiratory organs; by the latter the entire disappearance of the vital actions of the ultimate structural constituents of the body. When death takes place, the body as a whole dies first, the death of the tissues sometimes not occurring until after a considerable interval.
Huxley.
2.
Total privation or loss; extinction; cessation;
as, the
. death
of memoryThe
death
of a language can not be exactly compared with the death of a plant. J. Peile.
3.
Manner of dying; act or state of passing from life.
A
death
that I abhor. Shakespeare
Let me die the
death
of the righteous. Num. xxiii. 10.
4.
Cause of loss of life.
Swiftly flies the feathered
death
. Dryden.
He caught his
death
the last county sessions. Addison.
5.
Personified: The destroyer of life, – conventionally represented as a skeleton with a scythe.
Death
! great proprietor of all. Young.
And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was
Death
. Rev. vi. 8.
6.
Danger of death.
“In deaths oft.” 2 Cor. xi. 23.
7.
Murder; murderous character.
Not to suffer a man of
death
to live. Bacon.
8.
(Theol.)
Loss of spiritual life.
To be carnally minded is
death
. Rom. viii. 6.
9.
Anything so dreadful as to be like death.
It was
death
to them to think of entertaining such doctrines. Atterbury.
And urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto
death
. Judg. xvi. 16.
☞ Death is much used adjectively and as the first part of a compound, meaning, in general, of or pertaining to death, causing or presaging death; as, deathbed or death bed; deathblow or death blow, etc.
Black death
. See
– Black death
, in the Vocabulary. Civil death
, the separation of a man from civil society, or the debarring him from the enjoyment of civil rights, as by banishment, attainder, abjuration of the realm, entering a monastery, etc.
Blackstone.
– Death adder
. (Zool.)
(a)
A kind of viper found in South Africa (
Acanthophis tortor
); – so called from the virulence of its venom. (b)
A venomous Australian snake of the family
– Elapidæ
, of several species, as the Hoplocephalus superbus
and Acanthopis antarctica
. Death bell
, a bell that announces a death.
Death candle
, a light like that of a candle, viewed by the superstitious as presaging death.
– Death damp
, a cold sweat at the coming on of death.
– Death fire
, a kind of ignis fatuus supposed to forebode death.
– Death grapple
, a grapple or struggle for life.
– Death in life
, a condition but little removed from death; a living death.
[Poetic]
“Lay lingering out a five years’ death in life.” Tennyson.
– Death rate
, the relation or ratio of the number of deaths to the population.
– Death rattle
, a rattling or gurgling in the throat of a dying person.
– Death's door
, the boundary of life; the partition dividing life from death.
– Death stroke
, a stroke causing death.
– Death throe
, the spasm of death.
– Death token
, the signal of approaching death.
– Death warrant
. (a)
(Law)
An order from the proper authority for the execution of a criminal.
(b)
That which puts an end to expectation, hope, or joy.
– Death wound
. (a)
A fatal wound or injury.
(b)
(Naut.)
The springing of a fatal leak.
– Spiritual death
(Scripture)
, the corruption and perversion of the soul by sin, with the loss of the favor of God.
– The gates of death
, the grave.
Death applies to the termination of every form of existence, both animal and vegetable; the other words only to the human race. Decease is the term used in law for the removal of a human being out of life in the ordinary course of nature. Demise was formerly confined to decease of princes, but is now sometimes used of distinguished men in general;
as, the
. Departure and release are peculiarly terms of Christian affection and hope. A violent death is not usually called a decease. Departure implies a friendly taking leave of life. Release implies a deliverance from a life of suffering or sorrow. demise
of Mr. PittWebster 1828 Edition
Death
DEATH
,Noun.
Definition 2024
Death
Death
English
Death as a skeleton with a scythe.
Proper noun
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, an 1887 painting by Victor Vasnetsov. The Lamb is visible at the top.
Death
- The personification of death, often a skeleton with a scythe, and one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
- Death can be seen on a tarot card.
Synonyms
- (personification of death): Azrael, the Grim Reaper, the reaper, the pale rider, the rider, the angel of death, Santa Muerte, the Shinigami, psychopomp
Coordinate terms
Translations
the personification of death
|
Anagrams
See also
-
Death (personification) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- La Calavera Catrina
death
death
English
Alternative forms
- deth (obsolete)
Noun
death (countable and uncountable, plural deaths)
- The cessation of life and all associated processes; the end of an organism's existence as an entity independent from its environment and its return to an inert, nonliving state.
- The death of my grandmother saddened the whole family.
- 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher, chapter1:
- They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too. […].
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Ch.I:
- "‘Death,’" quoted Warwick, with whose mood the undertaker's remarks were in tune, "‘is the penalty that all must pay for the crime of living.’"
- 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:
- Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.
- (often capitalized) The personification of death as a hooded figure with a scythe; the Grim Reaper.
- When death walked in, a chill spread through the room.
- (the death) The collapse or end of something.
- England scored a goal at the death to even the score at one all. death of the feudalism
Synonyms
- See also Wikisaurus:death
Derived terms
Terms derived from death (noun)
Look at pages starting with death.
Translations
cessation of life
|
|
personification of death
|
|
Tarot
collapse or end
See also
Statistics
Most common English words before 1923: together · already · son · #303: death · works · perhaps · state