die

See also diē, dié, diè, and Dì-É

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English dien, deien, deȝen, from Old English dīġan, dīeġan (“to die”) and Old Norse deyja (“to die, pass away”), both from Proto-Germanic *dawjaną (“to die”) (compare Danish dø, Low German döen, Middle Dutch doyen, douwen, Old High German touwen), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- (“to pass away; to die”) (compare Old Norse dá 'catalepsy', Old Irish díth 'end, death', Old Church Slavonic daviti 'to strangle', Albanian vdes (“to die”), vdekje (“death”), Armenian դի (di, “corpse”), Avestan  (dvaidī, “we press”)).[1][2]

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:
      • 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:
      • 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:
      • 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. (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.
  3. (intransitive, figuratively) To yearn intensely.
    • 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. (intransitive, idiomatic) To be utterly cut off by family or friends, as if dead.
    The day our sister eloped, she died to our mother.
  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) To be mortified or shocked by a situation.
    If anyone sees me wearing this ridiculous outfit, I'll die.
  7. (intransitive, of a machine) to stop working, to break down.
    My car died in the middle of the freeway this morning.
  8. (intransitive, of a computer program) To abort, to terminate (as an error condition).
Synonyms
Derived terms
terms derived from die
Related terms
Translations
to stop living
to be cut off from family or friends
to become spiritually dead
to be mortified or shocked
to stop working

References

  1. ^ J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999), page 150, s.v. "death"
  2. ^ Vladimir Orel, A Handbook of Germanic Etymology (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2003).

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 dare (“to give”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to lay out, to spread out”).

Noun

die (plural dies or dice)

  1. (plural: dice) A polyhedron, usually a cube, with numbers or symbols on each side and used in games of chance.
    • 1748. David Hume. Enquiry concerning the human understanding. In: Wikisource. Wikimedia: 2007. § 46.
      If a die were marked with one figure or number of spots on four sides, and with another figure or number of spots on the two remaining sides, it would be more probable, that the former would turn up than the latter;
  2. (plural: dies) The cubical part of a pedestal, a plinth.
  3. (plural: dies) A device for cutting into a specified shape.
  4. A device used to cut an external screw thread. (Internal screw threads are cut with a tap.)
  5. (plural: dies) A mold for forming metal or plastic objects.
  6. (plural: dies) An embossed device used in stamping coins and medals.
  7. (plural: dice or dies) A fragment of a completed integrated circuit wafer, among those produced by fracturing the wafer as specified in its design, that includes a portion that (unless defective) can provide the electronic function for which it was designed, but whose further mechanical subdivision would irreversibly impair that function.
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. Otherwise, using the plural dice as a singular instead of die is considered incorrect by most authorities, but has come into widespread use.

Derived terms
Translations
polyhedron used in games of chance
cubical part of a pedestal
device for cutting into a specified shape
device used to cut an external screw thread
embossed device used in stamping
fragment of a completed integrated circuit wafer

Anagrams

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Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch de.

Article

die (definite)

  1. the (definite article)

Usage notes

When stressed, it can mean "this", but in that sense it is written as dié.

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Danish

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /diːə/, [ˈd̥iːə]

Etymology

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

Noun

die c

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

Derived terms

  • savndiet

Verb

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

  1. suck (being nursed)
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Dutch

Etymology

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

Declension

Dutch demonstrative determiners
Masculine/feminine Neuter Plural
Proximal deze dit deze
Distal die dat die


Pronoun

die m and f pl

  1. (relative) who, which, that
    Ik ken geen mensen die dat kunnen.
    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 striking should reckon on sanctions.
  • Alle arbeiders, die staken, zullen op sancties moeten rekenen.
    All workers, who are striking, should reckon on sanctions.

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

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German

Pronunciation

Article

die (definite, feminine and plural form of der)

  1. The; declined form of der
    die Frau — “the woman”
    die Männer — “the men”

Usage notes

The definite article die is the form of der (“the”) used with the following types of noun phrases:

  • nominative singular feminine
  • accusative singular feminine
  • nominative plural for all genders
  • accusative plural for all genders

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. (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 (or she or 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

masculine feminine neuter plural
nominative der die das die
genitive dessen deren dessen deren
dative dem der dem denen
accusative den die das die


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Interlingua

Noun

die (plural dies)

  1. A day.

Derived terms

  • De die in die: From day to day
  • Un die: One day, sometime
  • Le die sequente: The next day, the following day
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Latin

Pronunciation

Noun

diē

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

Romanization

die

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

Usage notes

English transcriptions of Chinese speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Chinese language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

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Middle Dutch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /diə/, /di/

Pronoun

die m and f

  1. that, that one

Determiner

die m and f

  1. that
  2. the

Descendants

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Saterland Frisian

Article

die m

  1. the
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Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 18:44