English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Prepositional phrase
at death's door
- (idiomatic) About to die; in a life-threatening state of health.
1828, Walter Scott, chapter 32, in The Fair Maid of Perth:The minstrel woman who left the castle yesterday has spread the report everywhere that the Duke of Rothsay is murdered, or at death's door.
1913, Jack London, chapter 32, in John Barleycorn:One of my Polynesian sailors lay at death's door with blackwater fever.
- 2008, Josh Quittner, "Bill Gates: PC Genius, Internet Fool," Time, 29 June:
- Clearly, a business with $26 billion in cash reserves isn't exactly at death's door.
Citations
For more quotations using this term, see Citations:at death's door.
Synonyms
Translations
about to die
- Ainu: マイマイケ (maymayke)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 瀕臨死亡/濒临死亡 (bīnlín sǐwáng), 濒临死亡 (bīnlín sǐwáng)
- Finnish: kuolemaisillaan, kuoleman kielissä
- French: aux portes de la mort, à l’agonie, à l’article de la mort (fr)
- Galician: ás portas da morte
- German: an der Schwelle des Todes
- Icelandic: dauðvona (is) m, liggja fyrir dauðanum, vera langt leiddur, vera í andarslitrunum, berja nestið
- Irish: ar deireadh
- Italian: al capolinea, al lumicino
- (deprecated template usage)
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- Latin: moribundus (la), capulāris
- Maori: whakahemohemo
- Norman: au nom d'mort, sus l'pus, au pas d'la mort
- Polish: jedną nogą w grobie, na łożu śmierci
- Portuguese: às portas da morte (pt), nas portas da morte
- Romanian: cu un picior în groapă, în pragul morții, pe moarte
- Russian: при́ сме́рти (ru) (prí smérti) (preposition stressed), на сме́ртном одре́ (ru) (na smértnom odré), одно́й ного́й в моги́ле (odnój nogój v mogíle), на краю́ гро́ба (na krajú gróba)
- Spanish: a las últimas
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See also