'Death' definitions:
Definition of 'death'
From: WordNet
noun
The event of dying or departure from life; "her death came as a terrible shock"; "upon your decease the capital will pass to your grandchildren" [syn: death, decease, expiry] [ant: birth, nascence, nascency, nativity]
noun
The permanent end of all life functions in an organism or part of an organism; "the animal died a painful death"
noun
The absence of life or state of being dead; "he seemed more content in death than he had ever been in life"
noun
The time when something ends; "it was the death of all his plans"; "a dying of old hopes" [syn: death, dying, demise] [ant: birth]
noun
The time at which life ends; continuing until dead; "she stayed until his death"; "a struggle to the last" [syn: death, last]
noun
The personification of death; "Death walked the streets of the plague-bound city"
noun
A final state; "he came to a bad end"; "the so-called glorious experiment came to an inglorious end" [syn: end, destruction, death]
noun
The act of killing; "he had two deaths on his conscience"
Definition of 'Death'
From: GCIDE
- Death \Death\ (d[e^]th), n. [OE. deth, dea[eth], AS. de['a][eth]; akin to OS. d[=o][eth], D. dood, G. tod, Icel. dau[eth]i, Sw. & Dan. d["o]d, Goth. dau[thorn]us; from a verb meaning to die. See Die, v. i., and cf. Dead.]
- 1. The cessation of all vital phenomena without capability of resuscitation, either in animals or plants. [1913 Webster]
- Note: 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. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Total privation or loss; extinction; cessation; as, the death of memory. [1913 Webster]
- The death of a language can not be exactly compared with the death of a plant. --J. Peile. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Manner of dying; act or state of passing from life. [1913 Webster]
- A death that I abhor. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Let me die the death of the righteous. --Num. xxiii. 10. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Cause of loss of life. [1913 Webster]
- Swiftly flies the feathered death. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- He caught his death the last county sessions. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
- 5. Personified: The destroyer of life, -- conventionally represented as a skeleton with a scythe. [1913 Webster]
- Death! great proprietor of all. --Young. [1913 Webster]
- And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death. --Rev. vi. 8. [1913 Webster]
- 6. Danger of death. "In deaths oft." --2 Cor. xi. 23. [1913 Webster]
- 7. Murder; murderous character. [1913 Webster]
- Not to suffer a man of death to live. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
- 8. (Theol.) Loss of spiritual life. [1913 Webster]
- To be carnally minded is death. --Rom. viii. 6. [1913 Webster]
- 9. Anything so dreadful as to be like death. [1913 Webster]
- It was death to them to think of entertaining such doctrines. --Atterbury. [1913 Webster]
- And urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death. --Judg. xvi. 16. [1913 Webster]
- Note: 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. [1913 Webster]
- 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 Elapid[ae], of several species, as the Hoplocephalus superbus and Acanthopis antarctica.
- Death bell, a bell that announces a death. [1913 Webster]
- The death bell thrice was heard to ring. --Mickle.
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- And round about in reel and rout, The death fires danced at night. --Coleridge.
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- At all ages the death rate is higher in towns than in rural districts. --Darwin.
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? --Job xxxviii. 17.
- The second death, condemnation to eternal separation from God. --Rev. ii. 11.
- To be the death of, to be the cause of death to; to make die. "It was one who should be the death of both his parents." --Milton.
- Syn: Death, Decease, Demise, Departure, Release.
- Usage: 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 demise of Mr. Pitt. 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. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Death'
From: Easton
- Death may be simply defined as the termination of life. It is represented under a variety of aspects in Scripture:
- "The dust shall return to the earth as it was" (Eccl. 12:7).
- "Thou takest away their breath, they die" (Ps. 104:29).
- It is the dissolution of "our earthly house of this tabernacle" (2 Cor. 5:1); the "putting off this tabernacle" (2 Pet. 1:13, 14).
- Being "unclothed" (2 Cor. 5:3, 4).
- "Falling on sleep" (Ps. 76:5; Jer. 51:39; Acts 13:36; 2 Pet. 3:9.
- "I go whence I shall not return" (Job 10:21); "Make me to know mine end" (Ps. 39:4); "to depart" (Phil. 1:23).
- The grave is represented as "the gates of death" (Job 38:17; Ps. 9:13; 107:18). The gloomy silence of the grave is spoken of under the figure of the "shadow of death" (Jer. 2:6).
- Death is the effect of sin (Heb. 2:14), and not a "debt of nature." It is but once (9:27), universal (Gen. 3:19), necessary (Luke 2:28-30). Jesus has by his own death taken away its sting for all his followers (1 Cor. 15:55-57).
- There is a spiritual death in trespasses and sins, i.e., the death of the soul under the power of sin (Rom. 8:6; Eph. 2:1, 3; Col. 2:13).
- The "second death" (Rev. 2:11) is the everlasting perdition of the wicked (Rev. 21:8), and "second" in respect to natural or temporal death.
- THE DEATH OF CHRIST is the procuring cause incidentally of all the blessings men enjoy on earth. But specially it is the procuring cause of the actual salvation of all his people, together with all the means that lead thereto. It does not make their salvation merely possible, but certain (Matt. 18:11; Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 1:4; 3:13; Eph. 1:7; 2:16; Rom. 8:32-35).
Synonyms of 'death'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- angel of death,
- annihilation,
- apodosis,
- Azrael,
- bane,
- Black Death,
- caducity,
- casualty,
- catastrophe,
- ceasing,
- cessation,
- changeableness,
- coda,
- conclusion,
- consummation,
- corruptibility,
- crack of doom,
- crossbones,
- crossing the bar,
- culmination,
- curtain,
- curtains,
- Death,
- death knell,
- deathblow,
- decease,
- demise,
- denouement,
- destination,
- destiny,
- destruction,
- dissolution,
- doom,
- downfall,
- dying,
- effect,
- end,
- end point,
- ending,
- envoi,
- ephemerality,
- ephemeralness,
- epilogue,
- eradication,
- eschatology,
- evanescence,
- expiration,
- expiry,
- extermination,
- extinction,
- extirpation,
- fatal,
- fate,
- final solution,
- final twitch,
- final words,
- finale,
- finality,
- finis,
- finish,
- finitude,
- fleetingness,
- fugacity,
- goal,
- grave,
- Grim Reaper,
- grim reaper,
- impermanence,
- impermanency,
- instability,
- izzard,
- last,
- last breath,
- last gasp,
- last things,
- last trumpet,
- last words,
- latter end,
- liquidation,
- memento mori,
- momentariness,
- mortality,
- mutability,
- obliteration,
- omega,
- Pale Death,
- pale horse,
- pale rider,
- passing,
- payoff,
- period,
- perishability,
- peroration,
- quietus,
- Reaper,
- resolution,
- resting place,
- ruin,
- sickle of Death,
- silence,
- skull,
- skull and crossbones,
- sleep,
- stoppage,
- stopping place,
- swan song,
- term,
- terminal,
- termination,
- terminus,
- that fell sergeant,
- that grim ferryman,
- transience,
- transiency,
- transientness,
- transitoriness,
- undoing,
- volatility,
- white cross,
- windup,
- Z
Words containing 'Death'
- Deathful,
- Deathfulness,
- Deathly,
- To be the death of,
- To do to death,
- Black death,
- Civil death,
- Dance of Death,
- Death Valley,
- Death adder,
- Death bell,
- Death candle,
- Death damp,
- Death fire,
- Death grapple,
- Death in life,
- Death mask,
- Death rate,
- Death rattle,
- Death stroke,
- Death throe,
- Death tick,
- Death token,
- Death warrant,
- Death wound,
- Death's door,
- Shadow of death,
- Somatic death,
- Spiritual death,
- Systemic death,
- The gates of death,
- The second death,
- To put to death,
- brain death,
- cause of death,
- cell death,
- cerebral death,
- cot death,
- crib death,
- death angel,
- death benefit,
- death camas,
- death camp,
- death cap,
- death chair,
- death chamber,
- death cup,
- death dealing,
- death duty,
- death grip,
- death house,
- death instinct,
- death knell,
- death penalty,
- death row,
- death seat,
- death song,
- death squad,
- death struggle,
- death tax,
- death toll,
- death wish,
- death's head,
- eternal death,
- human death,
- infant death,
- kiss of death,
- life after death,
- living death,
- neonatal death,
- put to death,
- putting to death,
- sudden death,
- violent death,
- wrongful death,
- Death's-head,
- Death's-herb,
- advance death benefit,
- death-roll,
- grassy death camas,
- life-and-death,
- life-or-death,
- programmed cell death,
- Death's-head moth,
- death's-head sphinx,
- near-death experience,
- sudden infant death syndrome,
- caspase-mediated cell death