sit on death's doorstep

English

Verb

sit on death's doorstep (third-person singular simple present sits on death's doorstep, present participle sitting on death's doorstep, simple past and past participle sat on death's doorstep)

1. To be on the brink of death; to be almost dead.
   • 1982, Lyrical Iowa, page 109:

     You can sit on death's doorstep, And rest your weary bones.

   • 2002, Dissertation Abstracts International, page 3778:

     From the Otherworld she hopes, as a shaman, to retrieve the soul of her dead or dying intended husband, who sits on Death's doorstep.

   • 2015, Terry Cooksey, The Cure For All Disease:

     Even when I had an excellent diet, within 5 years of drinking Ocean Spray juices, sodas, Gatorade and sugar sweetened tea every day, I had blown out my kidneys and was sitting on death's doorstep.

   • 2020, Rick Walker, Calafia: The Untold Story of California's Beginnings:

     The soldiers, officers, and priests all devoted considerable time and effort to nursing the ill men back to health, but too many of them still sat on death's doorstep.