# List of English-language expressions related to death

This is a list of words and phrases related to death in alphabetical order. While some of them are slang, others euphemize the unpleasantness of the subject, or are used in formal contexts. Some of the phrases may carry the meaning of 'kill', or simply contain words related to death. Most of them are idioms.
| Expression | Definition | Context | Notes |
| At peace | Dead | Euphemistic | |
| At rest | Dead | Polite | |
| Augered in | Died via aircraft crash | Slang | As documented in The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe |
| Belly up | Dead | Informal | The orientation of fish when dead |
| Beyond the grave | After death | Neutral | In reference to communication with the dead |
| Beyond the veil | The mysterious place after death | Neutral | Originally used to refer to the 'veil' that hides the innermost sanctuary of the Temple in Jerusalem. Sometimes refers to just a mysterious place. |
| Big sleep | To die or be killed | Euphemistic | Could be in reference to Raymond Chandler's 'The Big Sleep' |
| Bite the dust | To die or be killed | Informal | Also means 'failed' |
| Bite the big one | To die | Informal | North American. |
| Born asleep | Stillbirth | Neutral | |
| Breathe one's last | To die | Literary | |
| Brown bread | Dead | Slang | Cockney rhyming slang for 'dead'. |
| Bought the farm | Died | Slang | Also, shortened to 'bought it' |
| Bucket list | List of things to do before dying | Popular culture derivation | Derived from the older phrase "kick the bucket"; popularized by the 2007 film The Bucket List |
| Cargo 200 | Corpses of soldiers | Military slang | Military code word used in the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet states referring to the transportation of military casualties |
| Cark-it | To die | Informal, another version of 'croaked it'; common in UK, Ireland, Australia & New Zealand | The guy was running, had a heart attack and carked it. |
| Cash in one's chips | To die | Informal, euphemistic | Redemption for cash of gambling counters at the end of a game |
| Catching the bus | To commit suicide | Slang | Originated from the Usenet newsgroup alt.suicide.holiday |
| Charon | Ferryman of Hades | Neutral | Crosses the rivers Styx and Acheron which divide the world of the living from the world of the dead |
| Check out | To die | Euphemism | |
| Choir Invisible | To die | Humorous | British. "Join the choir invisible" Monty Python Dead Parrot Sketch. |
| Come to a sticky end | To die in a way that is considered unpleasant | Humorous | British. Also 'to meet a sticky end'. |
| Counting worms | Dead | Euphemistic | |
| Croak | To die | Slang | |
| Crossed the Jordan | Died | Biblical/Revivalist | The deceased has entered the Promised Land (i.e. Heaven) |
| Curtains | Death | Theatrical | The final curtain at a dramatic performance |
| Dead as a dodo | Dead | Informal | The 'dodo', flightless bird from the island of Mauritius hunted to extinction |
| Dead as a doornail | Obviously dead | Informal | Charles Dickens used this phrase at the beginning of A Christmas Carol. |
| Death by misadventure | Avoidable death | Formal/legal | Death resulting from risk-taking |
| Decapitation | The act of killing by removing a person's head, usually with an axe or other bladed instrument | | A much-favoured method of execution used around the world. Notable examples include the French Revolution via guillotine, and the Tudor times using an axe. |
| Deleted | Murdered | Literary | |
| Defenestration | The act of killing by throwing a person out of a window | | |
| Departed | To die | Neutral | |
| Destroyed | To die | Neutral | Usually refers to the humane killing of an animal |
| Die in a hole | To die | Slang | Usually used when annoyed at someone |
| Die with one's boots on | To die while able, or during activity, as opposed to in infirmity or while asleep. | Euphemistic | Old West usage: To die in a gunfight, as with the film They Died with Their Boots On. Also connotes dying in combat. British; cf. Iron Maiden's Die With Your Boots On. |
| Didn't make it | Killed in action (see below) | Euphemistic | |
| Done for | About to die | Neutral | |
| Drop dead | Die suddenly | Neutral | also slang aggressive dismissal |
| Dropping like flies | Dying in droves | Simile | also falling ill in numbers |
| Drop the Body | Died | Euphemistic | Used by new-age spiritually minded people instead of the term died, suggesting that, while the person's body died, his or her spirit lives on |
| Entered the homeland | 1950s Grave England | Euphemistic | |
| Eaten a twinkie | Die | Humorous | Relates to a perception among Australians that American food (Twinkies being a quintessential example) is toxic, due to its use of such ingredients (not used in Australian-made products) as high-fructose corn syrup. |
| Erased | Murdered | Literary | |
| Euthanasia | Assisted suicide | Formal | |
| Expire | Natural end | Neutral | |
| Exterminate | Kill | Directive | Exclaimed by Daleks (from Doctor Who) when ordered to kill |
| Extinct | When a species as a whole ceases to exist | Formal | |
| Fading away | To be weakening and close to death | Neutral | Also to be 'fading fast' |
| Fall off one's perch | To die | Informal | |
| Fall off the toilet | To die, often in an untimely or unexpected manner | Informal | |
| Food for worms | Someone who is dead | Slang | Also 'worm food' |
| Fratricide | Murder among siblings | Formal | |
| Free one's horses | To die | Neutral | |
| Game end | To kill | Informal | |
| Genocide | To completely exterminate all of a kind | Formal | |
| Get smoked | To be killed | Slang | |
| Give up the ghost | To die | Neutral | The soul leaving the body |
| Glue factory | To die | Neutral | Usually refers to the death of a horse |
| Gone to a better place | To die | Euphemistic | Heaven |
| Go over the Big Ridge | To die | Unknown | |
| Go bung | To die | Informal | Australian. Also means 'to fail' or 'to go bankrupt'. |
| Go for a Burton | To die/break irreparably | Informal | British, from WWII. |
| Go to Davy Jones's locker | To drown or otherwise die at sea | Euphemistic | Peregrine Pickle describes Davy Jones as 'the fiend that presides over all the evil spirits of the deep'. |
| Go to the big [place] in the sky | To die and go to heaven | Informal | A place in the afterlife paralleling the deceased's life, such as "Big ranch in the sky". |
| Go home in a box | To be shipped to one's birthplace, dead | Slang, euphemistic | |
| Go out with one's boots on/with a bang/in style | To die while doing something enjoyed | Informal | |
| Go to, or head for, the last roundup | To die | Euphemistic | Associated with dying cowboys, along with "Going to that big ranch in the sky." |
| Go to one's reward | To die | Euphemistic | Final reckoning, just deserts after death |
| Go to one's watery grave | To die of drowning | Literary | |
| Go to a Texas cakewalk | To be hanged | Unknown | |
| Go the way of all flesh | To die | Neutral | |
| Go west | To be killed or lost | Informal | Refers to the sun setting at the west. |
| The Grim Reaper | Personification of death | Cultural | A skeleton with a scythe, often in a cloak. Also commonly truncated to just "The Reaper". |
| Hand in one's dinner pail | To die | Informal | No longer required at workmen's canteen |
| Happy hunting ground | Dead | Informal | Used to describe the afterlife according to Native Americans |
| Hara-kiri | (Ritual) suicide by disembowelment | Japanese | See Seppuku. Often misspelled as Hari-kari. |
| Have one foot in the grave | To be close to death because of illness or age | Informal, sometimes humorous | |
| History | Dead | Informal | Usually interpreted as "to be history." |
| (Get) Hit by a bus | To die suddenly and prematurely | Informal | |
| Hop on the last rattler | To die | Euphemistic | "Rattler" is a slang expression for a freight train. |
| Hop the twig | To die | Informal | Also 'to hop the stick'. Pagan belief that to jump a stick on the ground leads to the Afterworld. |
| In Abraham's bosom | In heaven | Neutral | From the Holy Bible, Luke 16:22. |
| It's clipped | To die/be killed | Slang | New York Slang for saying something is over. |
| Join the choir invisible | To die | Neutral | From an 1867 poem by George Eliot. Referenced in the Monty Python Dead Parrot Sketch, also see Choir Invisible. |
| Join the great majority | To die | Euphemistic | First used by Edward Young, but the phrase 'the majority' is extremely old. |
| Justifiable homicide | Homicide | Formal | A deliberate homicide that is not a criminal act because the surrounding circumstances justified the use of deadly force. Defending oneself against a deadly attack, for example, or conducting a legally ordered execution. |
| Kermit (suicide) | To commit suicide, usually via falling from a great height | Humorous | Originated from a remixed video of Kermit the Frog from Sesame Street and a Kermit the Frog doll falling off a building. |
| Kick the bucket | To die | Informal | In suicidal hanging. Also 'kick off' (American). |
| Kick the calendar | To die | Slang, informal | Polish saying. 'Calendar' implies somebody's time of death (kicking at particular moment of time) |
| Killed In Action (KIA) | Death of military personnel due to enemy action | Military language, official and informal use | |
| King of Terrors | Personification of death | Neutral | Of Biblical origin, found in Job 18:14 Also refers to death itself |
| Kiss one's arse goodbye | Prepare to die | Slang | |
| Late | Used to refer to the recently dead | Euphemism | |
| Lay waste | To kill | slang | |
| Lights out | To die | Slang | Going into Eternal Oblivion |
| Liquidation | To be killed | Euphemism | Usually used in political context (such as purges), implies dehumanization. |
| Live on a farm (upstate) | To die | Euphemism | Usually referring to the death of a pet, especially if the owners are parents with children, i.e. "The dog went to live on a farm." |
| Lose one's life | To die in an accident or violent event | Neutral | |
| Lost | To die in an accident or violent event | | |
| Make the ultimate sacrifice | To die while fighting for a cause | Formal | Also 'make the supreme sacrifice' |
| Matricide | Mother murdered | Formal | |
| Meet one's maker | To die | Euphemistic | According to Christian belief, soul meets God for final judgment |
| Merc | Homicide | Slang | Also short for mercenary |
| Murder Death Kill (MDK) | Homicide | TV/Movie | From 1993 film Demolition Man |
| Night | The state of death | Euphemism | From the poem by Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." |
| Not long for this world | Will die soon; have little time left to live | Old-fashioned | |
| Not with us anymore | Dead | Euphemistic | |
| Off on a boat | To die | Euphemistic | Viking |
| Off the hooks | Dead | Informal | British. Not to be confused with 'off the hook' (no longer in trouble). |
| On one's deathbed | Dying | Neutral | |
| On one's last legs | About to die | Informal | |
| On the wrong side of the grass | Dead | Euphemistic slang | Refers to the practice of burying the dead. Such individuals are below the grass as opposed to above it, hence being on the "wrong side". |
| One's hour has come | About to die | Literary | |
| One's number is up | One is going to die | Slang | |
| Oofed | To die | Humorous | Popularized from the video game Roblox; likely invented to circumvent in-game chat filters. When referring to suicide, one may "oof themselves". |
| Pass away | To die | Euphemism; polite | Also 'to pass on' |
| Pass in one's alley | To die | Informal | Australian |
| Patricide | Father murdered | Formal | |
| Pay the ultimate price | To die for a cause or principle | Neutral | Similar to "To make the ultimate sacrifice" |
| Peg out | To die | Slang | British. Also means 'to stop working' |
| Peppered | To be shot to death | Slang | Usually refers to being shot multiple times (i.e. peppered with bullet holes). |
| Perish | Synonym for death | Neutral | |
| Pop one's clogs | To die | Humorous, Informal | British. "Pop" is English slang for "pawn." A 19th-century working man might tell his family to take his clothes to the pawn shop to pay for his funeral, with his clogs among the most valuable items. |
| Promoted to Glory | Death of a Salvationist | Formal | Salvation Army terminology. |
| Pull the plug | To kill, or allow to die | Euphemism | Removal of life support, such as turning off the power, or "pull the plug" on a ventilator keeping someone alive. |
| Pumped full of lead | Shot to death | Informal | Typically refers to being shot multiple times. |
| Push up daisies | To have died and be buried under the ground | Humorous, Euphemistic | Early 20th century—also 'under the daisies', and 'turn one's toes up to the daisies', which date back to the mid-19th century. (See 'to turn up one's toes' below.) |
| Put down/put to sleep | To be euthanised | Euphemism | Euthanasia of an animal |
| Put one to the sword | To kill someone | Literary | |
| Rainbow Bridge | Dead | Euphemism | Usually referring to the death of a pet, e.g. "Crossing the Rainbow Bridge." |
| Reset character | To die | Euphemistic slang | Refers to video games where "resetting one's character" involves deliberately killing them and letting them respawn or load from a save. |
| Ride the pale horse | To die | Euphemistic | In the Biblical passage Revelation 6:8, a pale horse is ridden by Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The expression "behold a pale horse" has been used as the title of a 1964 film by Fred Zinnemann and a 1991 book by ufologist William Milton Cooper. |
| Run one through | To kill someone, usually by stabbing | Euphemism | |
| Send one to Eternity or to the Promised Land | To kill someone | Literary | |
| Go/send to Belize | To die/to kill somebody | Euphemism | From Season 5 of the television series Breaking Bad |
| Send (or go) to the farm | To die | Euphemism | Usually referring to the death of a pet, especially if the owners are parents of young children e.g. "The dog was sent to a farm." |
| Sewerslide | To commit suicide | Humorous | 21st-century slang. Likely invented to circumvent internet censorship. |
| Shade | The state of death | Euphemism | From the poem "Invictus," by William Ernest Henley: "Beyond this place of wrath and tears, Looms but the horror of the shade." |
| Shake hands with Elvis | To die | Euphemism | Shake hands with a well-known person who has (presumably) died. |
| Shuffle off this mortal coil | To die | Humorous, Literary | From the To be, or not to be soliloquy from Shakespeare's Hamlet. |
| Six feet under | Dead | Informal | Six feet is the traditional depth of a grave |
| Sleeping with the fishes | Murdered, then disposed of in water. | Slang | Popularized by The Godfather |
| Slipped away | To die peacefully | Slang | Possibly originated from the poem "Death is Nothing at All" written by Reverend Henry Scott Holland in 1910 following the death of King Edward VII. |
| Snuffed out | Murdered | Literary | As in extinguishing a candle, or simply "snuff it" |
| Step off | To die | Informal, euphemistic | Character Ron Birdwell in the movie The Late Show (1977): "I'm always sorry to hear any of God's creatures stepping off." |
| Struck down | To be killed by an illness | Neutral | Usually passive |
| Suicide | To take one's own life | Formal | |
| Sunset | Dead | Formal | |
| Swim with concrete shoes | Gangster murder | Slang | |
| Take a dirt nap | To die and be buried | Slang | |
| Take a last bow | To die | Slang | |
| Take one's own life | To commit suicide | Euphemism | |
| Take/took the easy way out | To commit suicide | Euphemism | Based on the original meaning of the phrase of taking the path of least resistance. |
| Take the last train to glory | To die | Euphemism | An idiom Christian in origin. |
| Tango Uniform | Dead, irreversibly broken | Military slang | This is "T.U." in the NATO phonetic alphabet, an abbreviation for Tits Up (which is itself an euphemism for an airplane crash). |
| Terminate; especially, terminate with extreme prejudice | To kill; especially when carrying out an assassination as part of a covert operation. | Euphemism; military slang | Originated during the Vietnam War; later popularized by the films Apocalypse Now and The Terminator |
| The Big Adios | To die | Euphemistic slang | Ex: "Live life to the fullest before the big Adios!" |
| To join the whisperers | To die | Euphemism | From the television series Lost: the Whispers were voices of those who died, yet were unable to move on and therefore remained on the island as whispers |
| Toaster bath | Committing suicide via dropping an active toaster in a bathtub | 21st-century slang | |
| Topped yourself | Committed suicide | Slang | |
| Turn up one's toes | To die | Slang | An alternative of 'turn one's toes up to the daisies' (see 'push up daisies' above.) |
| Unalive (also un-alive) | To die, or to kill | Euphemistic slang | A euphemism that developed in slang on social media, particularly TikTok, to avoid censorship of the words "kill" and "die." |
| Unsubscribe from life | To die | Euphemistic | 21st century slang |
| Up and die | Unexpected death, leaving loose ends | Euphemistic | |
| Waste | To kill | Slang | |
| Wearing a pine overcoat (i.e. a wooden coffin) | Dead | Slang | Idiom used by American gangsters of the early 20th century. |
| Wiped out | Dead, usually if multiple individuals die | Neutral | |
| Worm food or worm bait | Dead | Slang | |