death

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)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.

   “My grandfather died a violent death, which saddened the whole family.”

   “But foraſmuch as this [the faintneſs of the Heart] is a very bad and heavy diſtemper, and a fore-runner of death, therefore 'tis called a timely death.”

   “Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly.”

   “"‘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.’"”

   “Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, […]”

2. (countable, uncountable)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 serial killer was sentenced to death.”

   “Thirty years after Gao Chengyong embarked on a succession of 11 rape-murders of women in northwest China, a court sentenced him to death on Friday, following an investigation that involved sifting through 230,000 fingerprints.”

3. (capitalized, countable, often, uncountable)The personification of death as a (usually male) hooded figure with a scythe; the Grim Reaper.

   “When death walked in, a chill spread through the room.”

   “And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, & his name that sat on him was Death"”

   “[T]o thoſe, Jonathan, who know what death is, and what havock and deſtruction he can make, before a man can well wheel about—'tis like a whole age.”

   “O boy! running man is out of death ... Anyway, they say she comes on a pale horse”

4. (countable, uncountable)The collapse or end of something.

   “England scored a goal at the death to even the score at one all.”

   “Buyer (negotiating): You were at two-fifty on that one. Go on, then, what's the death on that? Seller: Two hundred pounds is the absolute death. Buyer: Sold. Thank you.”

   “He may even find himself being blamed if the project dies a quick and horrible death at the box office or is unceremoniously axed by the network.”

5. (countable, especially, figuratively, uncountable)The collapse or end of something.

   “This bake sale is going to be the death of me!”

6. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)Spiritual lifelessness.

name

1. 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.”

   “7 And when hee had opened the fourth seale, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, & his name that sate on him was Death, and hell followed with him: and power was giuen vnto them, ouer the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword, & with hunger, and with death, and with the beastes of the earth.”

   “Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy dominion!”

   “He had drunk more than was fit for him, and he was singing some light song, when he saw approaching, as he said, the pale horse mentioned in the Revelation, with Death seated as the rider.”

2. A surname.