feet first

See also: feetfirst, and feet-first

English

(of the movement or transportation of a person or animal) With the feet preceding the rest of the body.
(idiomatic, euphemistic) In the manner of a deceased person (i.e., dead).
- 1910, Jack London, chapter 4, in Burning Daylight:
  "If that door opens and any one of you cusses lets on there's anything unusual, right here and then I sure start plugging. They ain't a soul'll get out the room except feet first."
- 1943 October 18, “How to Be a Racketeer”, in Time:
  "‘Anybody resigns from us resigns feet first, understand?’ he tells me. So I didn't resign."
- 2001 May 23, Robin Finn, “Public Lives”, in New York Times, retrieved 9 September 2009:
  "They'll probably have to take me out of here feet first," says Ms. Steinem, punctuating the prediction with a growl of laughter (mortality has been in the back of her mind since breast cancer treatment a dozen years ago. . .).