English

Verb

go the way of all flesh

1. (euphemistic) To die; to follow a course leading to death or extinction.
   • 1888, Thomas Hardy, "The Three Strangers," in Wessex Tales,

     The first stranger handed his neighbor the family mug—a huge vessel of brown ware, having its upper edge worn away like a threshold by the rub of whole generations of thirsty lips that had gone the way of all flesh.

   • 1922, John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga, part 3, ch. 11,

     What could one do? Buy them and stick them in a lumber-room? No; they had to go the way of all flesh and furniture, and be worn out.

   • 1967, "Tops & Bottoms," Time, 18 Aug.,

     On the U.S. West Coast, the clubs and restaurants that feature topless female entertainers and waitresses also seemed to be going the way of all flesh. In Los Angeles, 20% of the joints have closed.

   • 2006, Laura Wertheimer, "Clerical Dissent, Popular Piety, and Sanctity in 14th-Century Peterborough," Journal of British Studies, vol. 45, no. 1, p. 3,

     Laurence of Oxford went the way of all flesh on the gallows.

Synonyms

• pass away