do to death

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English

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Verb

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do to death (third-person singular simple present does to death, present participle doing to death, simple past did to death, past participle done to death)

  1. Of a trope, joke, topic, idea, etc, to use so often that it becomes trite.
    It's hard to find novel screenplays. All the usual stories have been done to death.
    • 2023 January 27, Battleship New Jersey, 4:07 from the start, in Maintaining Your Battleship: Jan 2023 Update[1]:
      If you're interested in the process we're using for redecking the ship, we've absolutely done that to death. There's links to several different videos in the description below.
  2. (obsolete) To put to death.

Usage notes

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Sense 1 is usually seen in passive or past perfect constructions (e.g. "done to death.")