bite the dust

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

bite the dust (third-person singular simple present bites the dust, present participle biting the dust, simple past bit the dust, past participle bitten the dust)

1. (idiomatic, euphemistic) To die.
   • 1900, Samuel Butler, transl. The Odyssey, Book XXII., page 293

     Ulysses killed Demoptolemus, Telemachus Euryades, Eumæus Elatus, while the stockman killed Pisander. These all bit the dust, and as the others drew back into a corner Ulysses and his men rushed forward and regained their spears by drawing them from the bodies of the dead

   • 1877, Frances Fuller Victor, Eleven years in the Rocky Mountains and a life on the frontier, Chapter IX, p. 156

     Three more warriors bit the dust...

   • 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Didcot (1932)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 61:

     Tons of engine sheds would bite the dust with the end of steam, and many would be demolished with their time in the spotlight over. We're lucky that the one at Didcot survived into preservation.

2. (idiomatic) To quit, or fail.
   • 1979, “London Calling”, The Clash (music):

     London calling, now don't look to us / Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust

   My old backpack finally bit the dust the other day.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:die

Translations

to die

• Czech: natáhnout bačkory (cs), zaklepat bačkorama (cs) pf
• Danish: bide i graesset
• Dutch: in het zand bijten
• Finnish: potkaista tyhjää (fi), heittää veivinsä (fi)
• French: avaler son extrait de naissance (fr), (colloquial) claquer (fr), (colloquial) crever (fr), (informal) calancher (fr)
• German: ins Gras beißen (de)
• Greek: βλέπω τα ραδίκια ανάποδα (el) (vlépo ta radíkia anápoda)

  Ancient: ὀδὰξ αἱρέω οὖδας (odàx hairéō oûdas), ὀδὰξ αἱρέω γαῖαν (odàx hairéō gaîan), ὀδὰξ λάζομαι γαῖαν (odàx lázomai gaîan)

• Interlingua: morder le pulvere
• Italian: mordere la terra, tirare le cuoia
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bite i gresset (no), bite i graset

  Nynorsk: bite i graset

• Polish: kopnąć w kalendarz (pl), spaść z rowerka (slang)
• Portuguese: ir desta para a melhor
• Romanian: da colțul
• Russian: сыгра́ть в я́щик (ru) (sygrátʹ v jáščik), дать ду́ба (ru) (datʹ dúba)
• Spanish: morder la tierra, morder el polvo
• Swedish: bita i gräset (sv)
• Telugu: మట్టి కరుచు (maṭṭi karucu)
• Turkish: can vermek (tr), canı çıkmak (tr), dünyaya gözlerini yummak, nalları dikmek (tr)

to quit or fail

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吃灰 (chīhuī)

• Czech: rozbít se pf, dat kožu pf (Moravian)
• Finnish: sanoa sopimuksensa irti
• French: mordre la poussière (fr), lâcher (fr)
• German: ins Gras beißen (de)
• Hindi: धूल चाटना (to get defeated, literally “licking dirt”)
• Interlingua: morder le pulvere
• Italian: mangiare la polvere, fallire (it), essere sconfitto
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bite i gresset (no), bite i graset

  Nynorsk: bite i graset

• Russian: накры́ться (ru) pf (nakrýtʹsja)
• Spanish: morder el polvo
• Swedish: bita i gräset (sv)