To die in the last ditch
(gcide) | Die \Die\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Died; p. pr. & vb. n. Dying.]
[OE. deyen, dien, of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. deyja; akin to
Dan. d["o]e, Sw. d["o], Goth. diwan (cf. Goth. afd?jan to
harass), OFries. d?ia to kill, OS. doian to die, OHG. touwen,
OSlav. daviti to choke, Lith. dovyti to torment. Cf. Dead,
Death.]
1. To pass from an animate to a lifeless state; to cease to
live; to suffer a total and irreparable loss of action of
the vital functions; to become dead; to expire; to perish;
-- said of animals and vegetables; often with of, by,
with, from, and rarely for, before the cause or occasion
of death; as, to die of disease or hardships; to die by
fire or the sword; to die with horror at the thought.
[1913 Webster]
To die by the roadside of grief and hunger.
--Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
She will die from want of care. --Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
2. To suffer death; to lose life.
[1913 Webster]
In due time Christ died for the ungodly. --Rom. v.
6.
[1913 Webster]
3. To perish in any manner; to cease; to become lost or
extinct; to be extinguished.
[1913 Webster]
Letting the secret die within his own breast.
--Spectator.
[1913 Webster]
Great deeds can not die. --Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
4. To sink; to faint; to pine; to languish, with weakness,
discouragement, love, etc.
[1913 Webster]
His heart died within, and he became as a stone. --1
Sam. xxv. 37.
[1913 Webster]
The young men acknowledged, in love letters, that
they died for Rebecca. --Tatler.
[1913 Webster]
5. To become indifferent; to cease to be subject; as, to die
to pleasure or to sin.
[1913 Webster]
6. To recede and grow fainter; to become imperceptible; to
vanish; -- often with out or away.
[1913 Webster]
Blemishes may die away and disappear amidst the
brightness. --Spectator.
[1913 Webster]
7. (Arch.) To disappear gradually in another surface, as
where moldings are lost in a sloped or curved face.
[1913 Webster]
8. To become vapid, flat, or spiritless, as liquor.
[1913 Webster]
To die in the last ditch, to fight till death; to die
rather than surrender.
[1913 Webster]
"There is one certain way," replied the Prince
[William of Orange] " by which I can be sure never
to see my country's ruin, -- I will die in the last
ditch." --Hume (Hist.
of Eng. ).
To die out, to cease gradually; as, the prejudice has died
out.
Syn: To expire; decease; perish; depart; vanish.
[1913 Webster] |