sleep with one's fathers

English

Etymology

Calque of Biblical Hebrew וַיִּשְׁכַּב עִם־אֲבֹתָיו (wayyiškaḇ ʿim-ʾăḇōṯâw, literally “he slept with his fathers”) (found, for example, in the Bible at 1 Kings 2:10); compare be gathered to one's fathers.

Verb

sleep with one's fathers (third-person singular simple present sleeps with one's fathers, present participle sleeping with one's fathers, simple past and past participle slept with one's fathers)

1. (biblical and literary, dated or obsolete) To be buried together with one's forebears; hence, to die; also, to be dead.