die

Verb

die (third-person singular simple present dies, present participle dying, simple past and past participle died)

1. (intransitive) To stop living; to become dead; to undergo death.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:

     Returne with ſpeed, time paſſeth ſwift away,
     Our life is fraile, and we may dye to day.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXXV, page 54:

     The cheeks drop in; the body bows;
     Man dies: nor is there hope in dust: […]

   1. followed by of as an indication of direct cause; general use:

      He died of malaria.

      • 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 6, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

        "What did she die of, Work'us?" said Noah.
        "Of a broken heart, some of our old nurses told me," replied Oliver […] .

      • 2000, Stephen King, On Writing, Pocket Books, published 2002, page 85:

        In 1971 or 72, Mom's sister Carolyn Weimer died of breast cancer.

   2. followed by from as an indication of direct cause; general use, though somewhat more common in the context of medicine or the sciences:

      He died from heart failure.

      • 1865 March 4, British Medical Journal, page 213:

        She lived several weeks; but afterwards she died from epilepsy, to which malady she had been previously subject.

      • 2007, Frank Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, Sandworms of Dune, Tor, published 2007, page 191:

        "Or all of them will die from the plague. Even if most of the candidates succumb […] "

   3. followed by for; often expressing wider contextual motivations, though sometimes indicating direct causes:

      He died for the one he loved.

      • 1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22, Simon & Schuster, published 1999, page 232:

        Englishmen are dying for England, Americans are dying for America, Germans are dying for Germany, Russians are dying for Russia. There are now fifty or sixty countries fighting in this war.

      • 2003, Tara Herivel, Paul Wright, editors, Prison Nation, Routledge, page 187:

        Less than three days later, Johnson lapsed into a coma in his jail cell and died for lack of insulin.

   4. (now rare) followed by with as an indication of direct cause:
      • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

        Therefore let Benedicke like covered fire, / Consume away in sighes, waste inwardly: / It were a better death, to die with mockes, / Which is as bad as die with tickling.

      • 1830, Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, Richards, published 1854, page 337:

        And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year was very frequent in the land.

   5. (uncommon, nonstandard outside video games) followed by to as an indication of direct cause (like from):

      I can't believe I just died to a turret!

      • 2014, S. J. Groves, The Darker Side to Dr Carter, page 437:

        Dr Thomas concluded she had died to a blow to the head, which led to a bleed on the brain, probably a fall and had hit her head hard on the wooden bedpost, as there was blood on the bedpost.

   6. (still current) followed by with as an indication of manner:

      She died with dignity.

   7. (in bare form) to die in a certain form.

      Will I die a happy man?

2. (transitive) To (stop living and) undergo (a specified death).

   He died a hero's death.

   They died a thousand deaths.

   • 2019, Lou Marinoff, On Human Conflict: The Philosophical Foundations of War and Peace, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 452:

     […] he chose instead to suffer even greater personal pain, with unimaginable fortitude and resolve, albeit for a shorter time. Thus he died a small death, in order to benefit the living. Similarly, a small and voluntary death was died by Socrates.

3. (video games, slang) To lose or be eliminated from a game, particularly with a deathlike animation.
   • 1995, “Slobzone”, in Coming Soon! magazine‎ (video game review):

     Of course, Nazis are not present in this game. Instead, we have animals that will try to cover you with dirt. As soon as you get too dirty, you will die.

   • 2009, Brian Sulpher, 9:15–9:30 from the start, in Onto Doom And Gloom‎ (video game playthrough), via youtube:

     Oh look, I just died. […] I missed that jump again! That was dumb! Hey, I just died on the same freakin' Zinger.

   Whenever my brother dies, he ragequits.

4. (intransitive, figuratively) To yearn intensely.

   I'm dying for a packet of crisps.

   I'm dying for a piss.

   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Yes, and his ill conditions; and in despite of all, dies for him.

   • 2004, Paul Joseph Draus, Consumed in the city: observing tuberculosis at century's end, page 168:

     I could see that he was dying, dying for a cigarette, dying for a fix maybe, dying for a little bit of freedom, but trapped in a hospital bed and a sick body.

5. (intransitive, uncommon, idiomatic) To be or become hated or utterly ignored or cut off, as if dead.

   The day our sister eloped, she died to our mother.

   • 2015, Emily Duvall, Inclusions, page 150:

     "My dad […] beat us until we couldn't sit down." […] "What about your mother?" […] "She's alive. […] My aunt visits her once a year, but I don't ask about my mother. She died to me the day she chose my father over protecting us." Luke's voice hitched with emotion.

   • 2017, Mike Hoornstra, Descent into the Maelstrom, page 366:

     "You haven't been my son since you were ten years old. That boy died to me the day he ran away. I don't know you. You are merely a shell that resembles someone I used to know, but you are dead to me. You are the bringer of pain and death. Leave me be. Leave me with my son, Jyosh." "Mother..." Barlun pleaded.

6. (intransitive, figuratively) To become spiritually dead; to lose hope.

   He died a little inside each time she refused to speak to him.

   • 2011, Ingrid Michaelson (lyrics and music), “Ghost”, in Human Again‎:

     Do you know that I went down / To the ground / Landed on both my broken-hearted knees... / […] I didn't even cry / 'Cause pieces of me had already died

7. (intransitive, colloquial, hyperbolic) To be mortified or shocked by a situation.

   If anyone sees me wearing this ridiculous outfit, I'll die.

9. (intransitive, figurative, hyperbolic) To be so overcome with emotion or laughter as to be incapacitated.

   When I found out my two favorite musicians would be recording an album together, I literally planned my own funeral arrangements and died.

   • 1976, an anchorman on Channel Five in California, quoted in Journal and Newsletter [of the] California Classical Association, Northern Section:

     I literally died when I saw that.

10. (intransitive, of a machine) To stop working; to break down or otherwise lose "vitality".

    My car died in the middle of the freeway this morning.

    Sorry I couldn't call you. My phone died.

    My battery died and my charger was at home.

11. (intransitive, of a computer program) To abort, to terminate (as an error condition).
12. (intransitive, of a legislative bill or resolution) To expire at the end of the session of a legislature without having been brought to a vote.

    The proposed gas tax died after the powerful rural senator refused to let it out of committee.

13. To perish; to cease to exist; to become lost or extinct.
    • 1714 September 26 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, September 15, 1714”, in The Spectator, number 594; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

      letting the secret die within his own breast

      The spelling has been modernized.

    • 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:

      Great deeds cannot die.

    • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 88:

      Through all the Worlds are sounds, the noises of moving, and the echoes of voices and song; but upon the River is no sound ever heard, for there all echoes die.

14. To sink; to faint; to pine; to languish, with weakness, discouragement, love, etc.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 25:37:

      But it came to passe in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

    • 1965, Darby Slick, “Somebody to Love”, in Surrealistic Pillow‎, performed by Jefferson Airplane, published 1967:

      When the truth is found to be lies / And all the joy within you dies / Don't you want somebody to love? / Don't you need somebody to love?

15. (often with "to") To become indifferent; to cease to be subject.

    to die to pleasure or to sin

16. (architecture) To disappear gradually in another surface, as where mouldings are lost in a sloped or curved face.
17. To become vapid, flat, or spiritless, as liquor.
18. (of a stand-up comedian or a joke, slang) To fail to evoke laughter from the audience.

    Then there was that time I died onstage in Montreal...

Noun

die (plural dies)

1. The cubical part of a pedestal; a plinth.
2. A device for cutting into a specified shape.
3. A device used to cut an external screw thread. (Internal screw threads are cut with a tap.)
4. A mold for forming metal or plastic objects.
5. An embossed device used in stamping coins and medals.
7. (semiconductors, plural also dice) An oblong chip fractured from a semiconductor wafer engineered to perform as an independent device or integrated circuit.
   • 2002, John L. Hennessy, David A. Patterson, Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 19:

     The number of dies per wafer is basically the area of the wafer divided by the area of the die.

   • 2009, Paul R. Gray, Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits, 5th edition, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 159:

     Once the wafer has undergone the wafer-probe test, it is separated into individual dice by sawing or scribing and breaking. The dice are visually inspected, sorted, and readied for assembly into packages.

8. Any small cubical or square body.
   • 1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC:

     Some young creatures have learnt their letters and syllables, and the pronouncing and spelling of words, by having them pasted or written upon many little flat tablets or dies.

Noun

die (plural dice or (nonstandard) dies)

2. An isohedral polyhedron, usually a cube, with numbers or symbols on each side and thrown in games of chance.

   Most dice are six-sided.

   I rolled the die and moved 2 spaces on the board.

   • 1748, [David Hume], “Of Probability”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 94:

     If a Dye were mark’d with one Figure or Number of Spots on four Sides, and with another Figure or Number of Spots on the two remaining Sides, ’twould be more probable, that the former ſhould turn up than the latter;

   • 2000, Richard Shoup, edited by Barry Lenson, Take Control Of Your Life: How to Control Fate, Luck, Chaos, Karma, and Life’s Other Unruly Forces, McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 42:

     When you roll two dies—or three, or four—the odds of obtaining a specific number becomes complex in a logarithmic progression.

   • 2012, Rinaldo B. Schinazi, “Probability Space”, in Probability with Statistical Applications, 2nd edition, Birkhäuser, →ISBN, “Independent Events”, “Exercises”, page 16:

     We roll two dies repeatedly until we get the first double.

   • 2014, Ionut Florescu, Ciprian A. Tudor, Handbook of Probability, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., →ISBN:

     Roll two dies 24 times. What is the probability of rolling at least one double 6?

   • 2017 December 8, “Adorable Kitten”, in Unstable, Wizards of the Coast:

     When this creature enters the battlefield, roll a six-sided die. You gain life equal to the result.

3. (obsolete) That which is, or might be, determined, by a throw of the die; hazard; chance.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 249:

     […] For th'equall die of warre he well did know.

Noun

die (plural dies)

1. Obsolete spelling of dye.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones:

     He hath carried his friendship to this man to a blameable length, by too long concealing facts of the blackest die.

Verb

die (third-person singular simple present dies, present participle dying, simple past and past participle died)

1. Obsolete spelling of dye.
   • 1739, John Cay, An abridgment of the publick statutes in force and use from Magna Charta, in the ninth year of King Henry III, to the eleventh year of his present Majesty King George II, inclusive, Drapery, XXVII. Sect. 16:

     Also no dyer shall die any cloth, except he die the cloth and the list with one colour, without tacking any bulrushes or such like thing upon the lists, upon pain to forfeit 40 s. for every cloth. And no person shall put to sale any cloth deceitfully dyed,

   • 1813, James Haigh, The Dier's Assistant in the Art of Dying Wool and Woollen Goods:

     To die wool with madder, prepare a fresh liquor, and when the water is come to a heat to bear the hand, put in half a pound of the finest grape madder for each pound of wool;

   • 1827, John Shepard, The artist & tradesman's guide: embracing some leading facts:

     To die Wool and Woollen Cloths of a Blue Colour. One part of indigo, in four parts concentrated sulphuric acid, dissolved; then add one part of dry carbonate of potash, [...]

Usage notes

• The demonstrative pronoun (“this/these”, “that/those”) is usually spelt dié in order to distinguish it from the definite article.

Usage notes

Only used in the set phrase "give die".

Usage notes

A preceding comma may alter the meaning of a clause starting with a relative pronoun. Compare the following sentences:

• Alle arbeiders die staken zullen op sancties moeten rekenen.

  All workers who are on strike should expect sanctions.

• Alle arbeiders, die staken, zullen op sancties moeten rekenen.

  All workers, who are on strike, should expect sanctions.

In the first sentence, only the workers on strike are advised to expect sanctions. In the second sentence, the parenthetical phrase indicates that all the workers are on strike, and should all expect sanctions.

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: die
• Berbice Creole Dutch: dida
• Jersey Dutch: dî
• Negerhollands: die, di, i, dida, da die

See also

Declension

Usage notes

In a subordinate clause, die indicates a person or thing referenced in the main clause. It is used with plural or feminine singular antecedents.

Declension

Declension

Inflection

Derived terms

• De die in die (“From day to day”)
• Un die (“One day, sometime”)
• Le die sequente (“The next day, the following day”)

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diə/, /di/

Article

die

1. the; definite article.

Determiner

die

1. that, those
2. who, which, that
   • 1249, Schepenbrief van Bochoute, Velzeke, eastern Flanders:

     Descepenen van bochouta quedden alle degene die dese lettren sien selen i(n) onsen here.

     The aldermen of Bochoute address all who will see this letter by our lord.

Noun

dië f or n

1. thigh

Antonyms

• nuite

Alternative forms

• dia

Declension

Article

die (unstressed de, oblique dän, feminine ju, neuter dät, plural do)

1. the

Pronoun

die

1. thyself, yourself

Pronoun

die

1. oblique of du; thee, you

Derived terms

• to-die
• hollydie
• die oaskean
• daaily
• Michaulmas Die