English · Idiom Attested

kick the bucket

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Sense 1

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

A euphemism for dying or death.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Một cách nói tránh về cái chết

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

‘ Chatterton and Fagg and a few more like them who've since kicked the bucket.

The warders looked in every now and then to see if I was still alive, remarking: " He'll soon kick the bucket.... "

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Imported from Wikipedia “English-language idioms” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29), pending review. Figurative class: Euphemism (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).

Sense 2

Meaning · English

to die.—Norfolk. According to Forby, a metaphor taken from the descent of a well or mine, which is of course absurd. The Rev. E. S. Taylor supplies the following note from his MS. additions to the work of the East-Anglian lexicographer:—

Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)

Where it’s used: Origin British & Irish English

Sources & notes

Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “kick the bucket” mean?

A euphemism for dying or death.

Is “kick the bucket” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.