death

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
death/deθ/

▶noun

• 1 the action or fact of dying or being killed.

  ■ an instance of a person or an animal dying.

• 2 the state of being dead.

  ■ (Death) the personification of the power that destroys life, often represented as a skeleton or an old man holding a scythe.

• 3 the end of something: the death of her hopes.

– phrases
as sure as death quite certain.
at death's door so ill that one may die.
be the death of someone cause someone's death.
be in at the death be present when a hunted animal is caught and killed.

■ be present when something fails or ends.

catch one's death (of cold) informal catch a severe cold.
do someone to death kill someone.
do something to death repeat something so frequently that it becomes tedious.
like death warmed up (or N. Amer. over) informal extremely tired or ill.
put someone to death execute someone.
to death

• 1 until dead.

• 2 used to emphasize a feeling or action: I'm sick to death of you.

– derivatives
deathless adjective,
deathlessness noun,
deathlike adjective.

– origin OE dēath, of Gmc origin; rel. to die1.