die

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See also: dié, diè, diē, Diè, dîe, Die, and δῖε

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English deyen, from Old English dīeġan and Old Norse deyja, both from Proto-Germanic *dawjaną (“to die”). Displaced Old English sweltan.

Verb

die (third-person singular simple present dies, present participle dying, simple past and past participle died)

  1. (intransitive) To stop living; to become dead; to undergo death.
    1. followed by of; general use:
      He died of malaria.
      • 1839, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, Penguin 1985, page 87:
        "What did she die of, Work'us?" said Noah. "Of a broken heart, some of our old nurses told me," replied Oliver.
      • 2000, Stephen King, On Writing, Pocket Books 2002, page 85:
        In 1971 or 72, Mom's sister Carolyn Weimer died of breast cancer.
    2. followed by from; general use, though somewhat more common in the context of medicine or the sciences:
      He died from heart failure.
      • 1865, British Medical Journal, 4 Mar 1865, page 213:
        She lived several weeks; but afterwards she died from epilepsy, to which malady she had been previously subject.
      • 2007, Frank Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, Sandworms of Dune, Tor 2007, page 191:
        "Or all of them will die from the plague. Even if most of the candidates succumb. . ."
    3. followed by for; often expressing wider contextual motivations, though sometimes indicating direct causes:
      He died for the one he loved.
      • 1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22, Simon & Schuster 1999, page 232:
        Englishmen are dying for England, Americans are dying for America, Germans are dying for Germany, Russians are dying for Russia. There are now fifty or sixty countries fighting in this war.
      • 2003, Tara Herivel & Paul Wright (editors), Prison Nation, Routledge 2003, page 187:
        Less than three days later, Johnson lapsed into a coma in his jail cell and died for lack of insulin.
    4. (now rare) followed by with as an indication of direct cause:
      • 1600, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act III, Scene I:
        Therefore let Benedicke like covered fire, / Consume away in sighes, waste inwardly: / It were a better death, to die with mockes, / Which is as bad as die with tickling.
      • 1830, Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, Richards 1854, page 337:
        And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year was very frequent in the land.
    5. (uncommon, nonstandard outside video games) followed by to as an indication of direct cause (like from):
      I can't believe I just died to a turret!
      • 2014, S. J. Groves, The Darker Side to Dr Carter, page 437:
        Dr Thomas concluded she had died to a blow to the head, which led to a bleed on the brain, probably a fall and had hit her head hard on the wooden bedpost, as there was blood on the bedpost.
    6. (still current) followed by with as an indication of manner:
      She died with dignity.
  2. (transitive) To (stop living and) undergo (a specified death).
    He died a hero's death.
    They died a thousand deaths.
    • 2019, Lou Marinoff, On Human Conflict: The Philosophical Foundations of War and Peace, Rowman & Littlefield (→ISBN), page 452:
      […] he chose instead to suffer even greater personal pain, with unimaginable fortitude and resolve, albeit for a shorter time. Thus he died a small death, in order to benefit the living. Similarly, a small and voluntary death was died by Socrates.
  3. (intransitive, figuratively) To yearn intensely.
    I'm dying for a packet of crisps.
    I'm dying for a piss.
    • 1598, Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act III, Scene II:
      Yes, and his ill conditions; and in despite of all, dies for him.
    • 2004 Paul Joseph Draus, Consumed in the city: observing tuberculosis at century's end - Page 168
      I could see that he was dying, dying for a cigarette, dying for a fix maybe, dying for a little bit of freedom, but trapped in a hospital bed and a sick body.
  4. (rare, intransitive) To be or become hated or utterly ignored or cut off, as if dead.
    The day our sister eloped, she died to our mother.
    • 2015, Emily Duvall, Inclusions, page 150:
      "My dad […] beat us until we couldn't sit down." […] "What about your mother?" […] "She's alive. […] My aunt visits her once a year, but I don't ask about my mother. She died to me the day she chose my father over protecting us." Luke's voice hitched with emotion.
    • 2017, Mike Hoornstra, Descent into the Maelstrom, page 366:
      "You haven't been my son since you were ten years old. That boy died to me the day he ran away. I don't know you. You are merely a shell that resembles someone I used to know, but you are dead to me. You are the bringer of pain and death. Leave me be. Leave me with my son, Jyosh." "Mother..." Barlun pleaded.
  5. (intransitive, figuratively) To become spiritually dead; to lose hope.
    He died a little inside each time she refused to speak to him.
  6. (intransitive, colloquial, hyperbolic) To be mortified or shocked by a situation.
    If anyone sees me wearing this ridiculous outfit, I'll die.
  7. (figurative, intransitive, hyperbolic) To be so overcome with emotion or laughter as to be incapacitated.
    When I found out my two favorite musicians would be recording an album together, I literally planned my own funeral arrangements and died.
    • 1976, an anchorman on Channel Five in California, quoted in Journal and Newsletter [of the] California Classical Association, Northern Section:
      I literally died when I saw that.
  8. (intransitive, of a machine) To stop working, to break down.
    My car died in the middle of the freeway this morning.
    Sorry I couldn't call you. My phone died.
  9. (intransitive, of a computer program) To abort, to terminate (as an error condition).
  10. (intransitive, of a legislative bill or resolution) To expire at the end of the session of a legislature without having been brought to a vote.
    The proposed gas tax died after the powerful rural senator refused to let it out of committee.
  11. To perish; to cease to exist; to become lost or extinct.
  12. To sink; to faint; to pine; to languish, with weakness, discouragement, love, etc.
  13. (often with "to") To become indifferent; to cease to be subject.
    to die to pleasure or to sin
  14. (architecture) To disappear gradually in another surface, as where mouldings are lost in a sloped or curved face.
  15. To become vapid, flat, or spiritless, as liquor.
  16. (of a stand-up comedian or a joke) To fail to evoke laughter from the audience.
    Then there was that time I died onstage in Montreal...
Usage notes
1611, King James Bible
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Gal. 2:21)
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
See die/translations § Verb.

Etymology 2

A pair of common dice with six sides each.
Various dice with different numbers of sides and distributions of values.

From Middle English dee, from Old French de (Modern French dé), from Latin datum, from datus (“given”), the past participle of dō (“to give”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to lay out, to spread out”). Doublet of datum.

Noun

die (plural dies)

  1. The cubical part of a pedestal; a plinth.
  2. A device for cutting into a specified shape.
  3. A device used to cut an external screw thread. (Internal screw threads are cut with a tap.)
  4. A mold for forming metal or plastic objects.
  5. An embossed device used in stamping coins and medals.
  6. (electronics) (plural also dice) An oblong chip fractured from a semiconductor wafer engineered to perform as an independent device or integrated circuit.
  7. Any small cubical or square body.
    • 1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC, paragraph:
      Some young creatures have learnt their letters and syllables, and the pronouncing and spelling of words, by having them pasted or written upon many little flat tablets or dies.

Noun

die (plural dice)

  1. (plural dies nonstandard) An isohedral polyhedron, usually a cube, with numbers or symbols on each side and used in games of chance.
    Most dice are six-sided.
    I roll the die and moved 2 spaces on the board.
    • 1748, [David Hume], “Of Probability”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 94:
      If a Dye were mark’d with one Figure or Number of Spots on four Sides, and with another Figure or Number of Spots on the two remaining Sides, ’twould be more probable, that the former ſhould turn up than the latter;
    • 2000, Richard Shoup, edited by Barry Lenson, Take Control Of Your Life: How to Control Fate, Luck, Chaos, Karma, and Life’s Other Unruly Forces, McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 42:
      When you roll two dies—or three, or four—the odds of obtaining a specific number becomes complex in a logarithmic progression.
    • 2012, Rinaldo B. Schinazi, “Probability Space”, in Probability with Statistical Applications, second edition, Birkhäuser, →ISBN, “Independent Events”, “Exercises”, page 16:
      We roll two dies repeatedly until we get the first double.
    • 2014, Ionut Florescu, Ciprian A. Tudor, Handbook of Probability, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., →ISBN:
      Roll two dies 24 times. What is the probability of rolling at least one double 6?
    • 2017 December 8, “Adorable Kitten”, in Unstable, Wizards of the Coast:
      When this creature enters the battlefield, roll a six-sided die. You gain life equal to the result.
  2. (obsolete) That which is, or might be, determined, by a throw of the die; hazard; chance.
  3. (electronics) (plural also dies) An oblong chip fractured from a semiconductor wafer engineered to perform as an independent device or integrated circuit.
Usage notes

The game of dice is singular. Thus in "Dice is a game played with dice," the first occurrence is singular, the second occurrence is plural. See also the usage notes under "dice".

Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
See die/translations § Noun.

Etymology 3

Variant spelling.

Noun

die (plural dies)

  1. Obsolete spelling of dye
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones:
      He hath carried his friendship to this man to a blameable length, by too long concealing facts of the blackest die.

Verb

die (third-person singular simple present dies, present participle dying, simple past and past participle died)

  1. Obsolete spelling of dye
    • 1739, John Cay, An abridgment of the publick statutes in force and use from Magna Charta, in the ninth year of King Henry III, to the eleventh year of his present Majesty King George II, inclusive, Drapery, XXVII. Sect. 16:
      Also no dyer shall die any cloth, except he die the cloth and the list with one colour, without tacking any bulrushes or such like thing upon the lists, upon pain to forfeit 40 s. for every cloth. And no person shall put to sale any cloth deceitfully dyed,
    • 1813, James Haigh, The Dier's Assistant in the Art of Dying Wool and Woollen Goods:
      To die wool with madder, prepare a fresh liquor, and when the water is come to a heat to bear the hand, put in half a pound of the finest grape madder for each pound of wool;
    • 1827, John Shepard, The artist & tradesman's guide: embracing some leading facts:
      To die Wool and Woollen Cloths of a Blue Colour. One part of indigo, in four parts concentrated sulphuric acid, dissolved; then add one part of dry carbonate of potash, [...]

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Alternative forms

  • di (obsolete)

Etymology

From Dutch die, which is used only as a demonstrative in Dutch. The replacement of the article de with stronger die is also common in Surinamese Dutch and among non-native speakers of Dutch.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /di/
  • IPA(key): /‿i/ (article only; contracted form, particularly after prepositions and conjunctions)

Article

die (definite)

  1. the (definite article)
    die man ― the man
    die vrou ― the woman
    die kind ― the child

Pronoun

die

  1. this one, these; that one, those; he, she, it, they
    Ek het dokter toe gegaan en die het gesê ek moet in bed bly.
    I went to the doctor and he / she said I had to stay in bed.

Usage notes

  • The corresponding determiner (“this/that”, “these/those”) is usually spelt dié in order to distinguish it from the definite article. This spelling is also sometimes used for the pronoun, though this is unnecessary.

Danish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /diːə/, [ˈd̥iːə]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suck, suckle”). Cognate with Latin fellō, Sanskrit धयति (dhayati, “to suck”). Compare causative dægge, Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌳𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (daddjan, “suckle”).

Noun

die c

  1. breast milk, mother's milk, when sucked from the breast
Derived terms

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

die (imperative di, infinitive at die, present tense dier, past tense diede, perfect tense har diet)

  1. to suckle

References

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch die, a merger of Old Dutch thie, thē, thia, thiu and similar forms of the demonstrative. As in Old High German ther, der it replaced the original masculine and feminine nominative forms from Proto-Germanic *sa.

Pronunciation

Determiner

die

  1. that (masculine, feminine); referring to a thing or a person further away.
    die boom
    that tree
    die vrouw
    that woman
  2. those (plural); referring to things or people further away.
    die vensters
    those windows
  3. (Suriname, colloquial) a certain, a particular; some; this; referring to a thing or a person that the speaker does not think is known to the audience.
    Die vrouw vraagt als iemand aardvruchten wil kopen.
    A woman is asking if anyone wants to buy root vegetables.
    Ik heb die wagen geslagen.
    I hit a car.

Inflection

Sg. m. Sg. f. Sg. n. Pl.
Nom. die die dat die
Gen. diens
van dien		 dier
van die		 (diens)
van dat		 dier
van die
Dat. dien
aan dien		 dier
aan die		 (dien)
aan dat		 dien
aan die
Acc. dien die dat die
Dutch demonstrative determiners
Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Proximal deze deze dit deze
Distal die die dat die
Possessive diens dier diens dier


Descendants

  • Afrikaans: die
  • Berbice Creole Dutch: dida
  • Negerhollands: die, di, i, dida, da die

Pronoun

die m or f or pl

  1. (relative) who, whom, which, that
    Ik ken geen mensen die dat kunnen.
    I don't know any people who can do that.
    Oh, maar ik ken iemand die dat wel kan!
    Oh, but I know somebody who can!

Usage notes

A preceding comma may alter the meaning of a clause starting with a relative pronoun. Compare the following sentences:

  • Alle arbeiders die staken zullen op sancties moeten rekenen.
    All workers who are on strike should expect sanctions.
  • Alle arbeiders, die staken, zullen op sancties moeten rekenen.
    All workers, who are on strike, should expect sanctions.

In the first sentence, only the workers on strike are advised to expect sanctions. In the second sentence, the parenthetical phrase indicates that all the workers are on strike, and should all expect sanctions.

German

Pronunciation

Article

die (definite)

  1. inflection of der:
    1. nominative/accusative singular feminine
    2. nominative/accusative plural
      die Frau ― the woman
      die Männer ― the men

Declension

German definite articles
Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Nominative der die das die
Genitive des der des der
Dative dem der dem den
Accusative den die das die

Pronoun

die (relative or demonstrative)

  1. inflection of der:
    1. nominative/accusative singular feminine
    2. nominative/accusative plural
      1. (in a subordinate clause as a relative pronoun) that; which; who; whom; whose
        Ich kenne eine Frau, die das kann. ― I know a woman who can do that.
      2. (as a demonstrative pronoun) this one; that one; these ones; those ones; she; her; it; they; them
        die da ― that one/she/they there

Usage notes

In a subordinate clause, die indicates a person or thing referenced in the main clause. It is used with plural or feminine singular antecedents.

Declension

Declension of der
masculine feminine neuter plural
nominative der die das die
genitive dessen deren
younger also: derer 		dessen derer
deren
dative dem der dem denen
accusative den die das die

Anagrams

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

  • ti (Wiesemann spelling system)

Pronunciation

Article

die (definite)

  1. inflection of där:
    1. nominative/accusative singular feminine
    2. nominative/accusative plural all genders

Declension

Hunsrik definite articles
nominative accusative dative
str. unstr. str. unstr. str. unstr.
Masculine där de där de dem
Feminine die die där de
Neuter das das dem
Plural die die den de

Further reading

Interlingua

Noun

die (plural dies)

  1. A day.

Derived terms

Italian

Etymology

From Latin diēs, back-formed from the accusative diem (whose vowel was once long), from Proto-Italic *djēm, the accusative of *djous, from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“heaven, sky; to shine”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈdi.e/
  • Hyphenation: dì‧e

Noun

die m (uncountable)

  1. Obsolete form of dì.

Anagrams

Latin

Pronunciation

Noun

(deprecated template usage) diē

  1. ablative singular of diēs ("day").
    Sine die.
    Without a day.

Mandarin

Romanization

die

  1. Nonstandard spelling of diē.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of dié.

Usage notes

  • Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Middle Dutch

Etymology 1

From Old Dutch thie, thia, from Proto-Germanic *sa.

Pronunciation

Article

die

  1. the; definite article.
Inflection

This article needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

Determiner

die

  1. that, those
  2. who, which, that
    • 1249, Schepenbrief van Bochoute, Velzeke, eastern Flanders:
      Descepenen van bochouta quedden alle degene die dese lettren sien selen i(n) onsen here.
      The aldermen of Bochoute address all who will see this letter by our lord.
Inflection

This determiner needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants
Further reading

Etymology 2

From Old Dutch thīo, from Proto-Germanic *þeuhą.

Noun

dië f or n

  1. thigh
Descendants
Further reading

Mirandese

Etymology

From Latin diēs.

Noun

die m (plural dies)

  1. day

Antonyms

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Probably from Danish die, from Old Danish di, from Germanic *dijana-, *dejana-

Verb

die (imperative di, present tense dier, passive dies, simple past and past participle dia or diet, present participle diende)

  1. to suck, suckle (of a baby on the breast)
  2. to breastfeed, nurse (of a mother with her baby)

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Probably from Danish die, from Old Danish di, from Germanic *dijana-, *dejana-

Verb

die (present tense diar, past tense dia, past participle dia, passive infinitive diast, present participle diande, imperative die/di)

  1. to suck, suckle (of a baby on the breast)
  2. to breastfeed, nurse (of a mother with her baby)

Alternative forms

References

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German and Old High German diu, from Proto-Germanic *sa. Compare German die.

Article

die f (definite)

  1. the

Declension

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Nominative der die es die
Accusative der die es die
Dative dem der em de

Saterland Frisian

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old Frisian thī, from Proto-Germanic *sa.

Article

die (feminine ju, neuter dät, plural do)

  1. the

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronoun

die

  1. oblique of du; thee, you

References

  • Marron C. Fort (2015) “die”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN

Yola

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English day, from Old English dæġ, from Proto-West Germanic *dag.

Noun

die

  1. day

References

  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867
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