bacio della morte

Italian

Etymology

Literally, “kiss of the death”.

Noun

bacio della morte m (plural baci della morte)

1. (idiomatic) kiss of death
   • 2020, Barack Obama, chapter 11, in Chicca Galli, Paolo Lucca, Giuseppe Maugeri, transl., Una terra promessa [A Promised Land], Garzanti Libri:

     Come potevo sapere che quel mio gesto di due secondi si sarebbe dimostrato, politicamente, un bacio della morte?

     How could I know that my two-second gesture would prove to be a political kiss of death for him?

     (literally, “How could I have known that that two-second gesture of mine would have proven, politically, a kiss of death?”)