die

1 /daI/ verb past tense and past participle diedpresent participle dying (I)

1 BECOME DEAD to stop living and become dead: He was very sick and we knew he might die. | of/from: The animals died of starvation in the snow. | My grandfather died from a heart attack.

(+ for): Do you believe in anything enough to die for it? | die happy/poor/young etc: He died young, at the age of 27. | die a hero/martyr/rich man etc: Van Gogh died a broken man. | die a natural/horrible etc death (=die in a particular way) | to your dying day (=until you die) | die by your own hand literary (=kill yourself) | die in your sleep: She died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 98.

2 DISAPPEAR to disappear or stop existing: Our love will never die. | die with sb (=disappear or be finished when someone dies): The family name will die with him.

3 MACHINES informal to stop working: The car's engine spluttered and died. | die on sb (=stop working while they are using it): The mower just died on me.

4 be dying for spoken to want something very much: I'm dying for a cup of coffee.

5 be dying to do sth spoken to want to do something very much, so that it is difficult to wait: We're dying to get started.

6 be dying of hunger/thirst spoken to be very hungry or thirsty

7 I nearly died/I could have died spoken used to say that you felt very surprised or embarrassed: I nearly died when my ex-husband walked into the room!

8 I'd rather die spoken used to say very strongly that you do not want to do something: I'd rather die than work for him!

9 old habits die hard used to say that it takes a long time to change to a new way of doing something

10 never say die spoken used to encourage someone to continue doing something that is difficult

11 die laughing spoken to laugh a lot: I nearly died laughing when I saw him with that ridiculous haircut.

12 die the death informal to gradually fail or be destroyed: Eventually the photography club died the death.

13 dying breath/wish someone's very last breath or wish before they die: No matter what you think, say nothing about it to your dying breath.

14 die on the vine literary to fail, especially at an early stage, because of a lack of support

15 sth to die for something that is so nice or attractive that you would do anything to have it: cream cakes to die for

die away phrasal verb (I) if sound, wind, or light dies away, it becomes gradually weaker and finally stops: The strange noise died away and an absolute silence closed in upon us. die back phrasal verb (I) if a plant dies back, it dies above the ground but remains alive at its roots die down phrasal verb (I) if something dies down, it becomes less strong, active, or violent: Don't worry, the gossip will soon die down. die off phrasal verb (I) if a group of people, animals etc die off, they die one by one until there are no more of them die out phrasal verb (I) to disappear or stop existing completely: Smallpox has completely died out in this country. 2 noun (C)

1 a metal block used to press or cut something into a particular shape

2 a dice 1 (1)

3 the die is cast used to say that a decision has been taken and cannot now be changed