beating a dead horse
To uselessly dwell on a subject far beyond its point of resolution.
Life & death · Sống chết 200
Related topics: Historical slang (1800s) Horses Kings & rulers Dogs Family Dated Mountains & stone War & fighting Hands Sea & boats Black & white Gods & heaven
better dead than red
It is preferable to be deceased than to be a Communist or ruled by Communists.
biết chết liền
I don't know; no idea
bury
To ritualistically inter in a grave or tomb. — To kill or murder.
bury the hatchet
End a quarrel.
bury your gays
A fiction trope where gay characters tend to die or generally meet an untimely demise.
bán sống bán chết
(adverb) in a dire situation that puts your endurance to the test
chí chết
(adverb) to death; exhaustingly; excessively
chó chết
(interjection) damn; shit; crap (a curse word)
chưa thấy quan tài chưa đổ lệ
to refuse to be convinced until one is faced with the grim reality; to be tenacious, resolute or pertinacious in one's pursuit of a goal despite of obstacles or advice
chết
(verb) to die; to decease; to perish
chết cha
(interjection) doh; oops; whoops; crap
chết chóc
(noun) death; doom; annihilation
chết chưa
(interjection) alternative form of chết chửa (“oh my goodness”)
chết chẹt
(verb) to be in a bind; to be in a pickle; to be stuck in the middle (hopelessly)
chết chửa
(interjection) oh my goodness; damn; Lordy
chết dở
(adjective) half dead
chết giấc
(verb) to faint; to black out; to pass out; to get knocked out
chết hụt
(verb) to cheat death; to escape narrowly; to elude misfortune (against all odds)
chết lâm sàng
(noun) clinical death
chết máy
(verb) to fail; to stall; to break down
chết ngạt
(verb) to suffocate; to asphyxiate; to be deprived of oxygen
chết ngất
(verb) to faint; to black out; to pass out
chết ngắt
(verb) to be as dead as it gets
chết nhát
(noun) bacterial wilt (an illness for vegetation, typically caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, formerly Pseudomonas)
chết non
(verb) to be stillborn; to be a miscarriage; to die while in utero
chết não
(noun) brain death
chết queo
(verb) to die; to perish; to decease
chết sống
(noun) death and life (generally)
chết tiệt
(interjection) damn; fucking; shit (for expressing hatred and frustration)
chết toi
(verb) to die (generally speaking)
chết tươi
(verb) to die instantly; to perish suddenly; to decease without struggle or delay
chết vinh còn hơn sống nhục
Better die a beggar than live a beggar.
chết yểu
(verb) to die young; to perish in youth
chết điếng
(adjective) traumatized; stupefied; shocked
chết đuối
(verb) to drown
chết đói
(verb) to starve (to death)
chết đứng
(verb) to die while still standing
coffin dodger
An elderly person, a person near death, or adept at avoiding death.
coffin nail
A cigarette.
coffin rider
A person who enriches himself through the exploitation of the misery, suffering, or deaths of others.
coffin tack
Synonym of coffin nail (“a cigarette”).
cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye
Synonym of cross my heart and hope to die.
cái nết đánh chết cái đẹp
Close to the English saying: “Handsome is as handsome does.”.
cáo chết ba năm quay đầu về núi
a person always longs for home
dead 'un
A horse that will not run or will not try in a race, and against which money may be safely wagered.
dead and buried
Over or irrevocably in the past.
dead as a dodo
Undoubtedly and unquestionably dead.
dead as a doorknob
Entirely, unquestionably or certainly dead.
dead as a doornail
Unquestionably dead. Used for both inanimate objects and once living beings.
dead as a herring
Utterly dead.
dead as a kipper
Utterly dead.
dead as a mackerel
Utterly dead.
dead as ditch-water
Unquestionably dead.
dead as Hector
Unquestionably dead.
dead bird
A ball which falls over the infielders’ heads for a hit, as if it were a bird shot by a hunter.
dead dove
A disclaimer or tag for fan fiction, particularly on Archive of Our Own, signifying that the work contains the content that is described, and as such, readers should not complain or be surprised about finding that content.
dead horse
Tomato sauce.
dead man
A bottle of alcoholic drink that has been consumed.
dead man walking
A multivortex tornado typically appearing in the form of a human figure walking.
dead meat
In serious trouble.
dead money
Chips that a player who has since folded has put into the pot.
dead on arrival
Of a new item: received broken.
dead president
A piece of US paper currency.
dead white European male
Any of various white male historical figures in art and culture seen to represent racism, sexism, etc. ingrained into Western education, in particular its canon.
dead wife montage
A montage that shows a male protagonist's female partner, in a lost idealized, intimate state, sometimes in an idyllic setting.
death cap
A potentially dangerous capacitor on the primary side of the power transformer in a guitar amp.
death flag
A trope suggesting to the viewer that a character will die.
death futures
Trading life assurance policies of terminally ill people, bought by a third party as an investment.
death grip
An extremely tight grip. — A tight grip on the penis during masturbation.
death is the great leveller
Death balances all.
death kit
A collection of tools or weapons used in the preparation of a homicide.
death star
a direct-to-home satellite television satellite (used by the cable television provider industry, to describe their competitors and the effect they would have in decimating the cable industry, prior to the introduction of digital satellite television and the three-foot dish revolution)
death stick
A cigarette.
die away
To die gradually or slowly.
die back
To wither, particularly during the winter.
die hard
Persistent or hard to go away.
die in the ass
To fail to function properly.
die like flies
Synonym of drop like flies.
die off
To suffer a series of deaths; to die one by one; to progressively become extinct. (If a group of plants, animals, or people dies off, the entire group dies over a period of time.)
die on
To die under the care or watch of (someone).
do or die
Persist in the face of great danger.
drop dead
Used angrily to express disgust, contempt, derision, etc., toward another person.
dry as a dead dingo's donger
Very dry, extremely dry.
flog a dead horse
Waste energy on a lost cause.
flogging a dead horse
Wasting efforts.
flying coffin
An aircraft with an unacceptably high accident rate.
gay death
AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
genetic dead end
Someone who is viewed as unlikely to ever produce offspring.
giãy chết
(verb) to die after a few wriggles
giết chết
(verb) to kill; to murder; to slaughter
grave as a judge
Thoroughly serious.
group of death
A group in a multi-stage tournament which is unusually competitive, because the number of strong competitors in the group is greater than the number of qualifying places available for the next phase of the tournament.
kiss of death
An action that causes certain failure.
life's a bitch and then you die
An expression of acceptance of misfortune in life.
like death warmed over
Ill, unwell.
like grim death
With savage determination or persistence.
like kicking dead whales down the beach
Very slow and difficult.
linh hồn mồ côi
(noun) forgotten soul; one who has no one left to intercede for them
live by the sword, die by the sword
One who uses violence can expect a violent response; it is better to try to use peaceful means wherever possible.
live fast, die young
An individual who chooses to live an exciting but dangerous lifestyle risks dying prematurely.
lăn ngăn mồ hôi
antiperspirant roll-on
mèo mả gà đồng
vagabond; hobo
mả
(noun) tomb; grave
mả cha
(interjection) fuck
mả mẹ
(interjection) fuck
mật ngọt chết ruồi
sweet words are poison; a honey tongue, a heart of gall
mồ
(noun) tomb; grave
mồ côi
(adjective) orphaned; unparented; parentless
mồ hôi
(noun) sweat
mồ mả
(noun) graves; tombs (generally speaking)
nail in one's coffin
An alcoholic drink.
ngọt mật chết ruồi
You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.
old habits die hard
Established habits are difficult to change.
on dead dogs
Used to express that the speaker is telling the truth.
on foenem grave
With all honesty and earnestness; with placement of a claim’s validity upon the honor of one’s deceased kith and kin; on God; I swear.
only dead fish go with the flow
Conforming to the influences of others does not allow a person to follow their own goals and desires.
over my dead body
Completely oppose something and would do anything to prevent it.
pale as death
extremely pale
put the dead wood on
To gain a great advantage over (someone).
quan tài
(noun) coffin
raise the dead
To raise one's voice to a very high level; to be noisy or disruptive.
ride or die
Someone who is wholeheartedly committed and supportive.
see Naples and die
One can die at peace after having seen Naples, Italy, nothing else on Earth surpassing its beauty.
silent as a grave
Extremely quiet
straight as a die
Completely or totally straight.
strong as death
Very strong or emotionally powerful.
sudden death
A meal of a chicken freshly slaughtered and spatchcocked.
sure as death
Most certainly.
sure as death and taxes
Totally certain.
thai chết lưu
stillborn; stillbirth
the die is cast
An event has happened that cannot be changed.
thí mồ
(adverb) eye dialect spelling of thấy mồ, representing Southern Vietnam Vietnamese
thấy mồ
(adverb) very much
today is a good day to die
An expression of willingness, even eagerness, to give one’s life for a cause.
trâu bò húc nhau, ruồi muỗi chết
When the strong-willed members of a group butt heads, the bystanders suffer.
trối chết
(adjective) to death, for dear life, desperate
twink death
The loss of a twink's neoteny or androgyny as a result of aging.
xác chết
(noun) a corpse; dead body; cadaver; the remains
Đoàn kết thì sống, chia rẽ thì chết
English equivalentː United we stand, divided we fall.
Đánh chết cái nết cũng không chừa
Close to the English saying: “Old habits die hard.”.
a dead dog
Something utterly worthless. A Biblical phrase (see I Sam. xxiv, 14, "After whom is the king of Israel come out? After a dead dog?") Cp. also Is THY SERVANT, etc., below.
a dead hand
It was believed that a candle placed in a dead man's hand gives no light to any but those who use it. See HAND.
a king should die standing
The reputed dying saying of Louis XVIII.
All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies. (John Arbuthnot)
Political parties ultimately fail due to their own deceit
and die in music
Othello, v, 2. In. the Merchant of Venice, (iii, 2) Portia says — He makes a swan-like end, Fading in music.
another nail in someone's coffin
An event that makes someone's situation worse or more likely to fail
article of death
Something that is very dangerous or likely to cause death
beat a dead horse
to continue trying to achieve something that is no longer possible
before setting out on a mission of vengeance, dig two graves
Seeking revenge will likely lead to one's own downfall
Black Death
A plague which ravaged Europe in 1348-51; it was a putrid typhus, in which the body rapidly turned black. It reached England in 1349, and is said to have carried off twenty-five millions (one fourth of the population) in Europe alone, while in Asia and Africa the mortality was even greater.
bleeding of a dead body
It was at one time believed that, at the approach of a murderer, the blood of the murdered body gushed out. If in a dead body the slightest change was observable in the eyes, mouth, feet, or hands, the murderer was supposed to be present. The notion still survives m some places.
buried treasure
Valuable or exciting things that are hidden or hard to find
bury a moll
To run away from a mistress.
bury one's head in the sand
To refuse to acknowledge or deal with a problem
Bury the Hatchet
Let bygones be bygones. The "Great Spirit" commanded the North American Indians, when they smoked their calumet or peace-pipe, to bury their- hatchets, scalping-knives, and war-clubs, that all thought of hostility might be put out of sight.
bury the lede
To fail to mention the most important information at the beginning
bát mồ hôi đổi bát cơm
Vietnamese proverb; English definition pending editorial review.
bút sa gà chết
A small mistake can have serious consequences
catch one's death
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
chúng khẩu đồng từ, ông sư cũng chết
When everyone agrees, even an expert's opinion is useless
Chưa thấy quan tài chưa đổ lệ lệ
Don't mourn until the situation is confirmed
chết bỏ làng
Die rather than surrender or compromise
chết cha còn chú, sẩy mẹ bú dì
Even in difficult situations, there is often still some support or help available
chết chẳng muốn, muốn ăn xôi
To be unable to resist a temptation
chết nửa mùa
To die or wither prematurely
chết trâu lại thêm mẻ rìu
When one trouble ends, another begins
chết đuối vớ phải bọt
Die trying to grasp at something unattainable
chết đuối đọi đèn
Dying under the light
Chết đứng như Từ Hải
Vietnamese idiom; English definition pending editorial review.
close as the grave
Very secret indeed. It's enough to make him turn in his grave. Said when something happens to which the deceased person would have strongly objected. Someone is walking over my grave. An ex- clamation made when one is seized with an involuntary convulsive shuddering.
cold as death
Very cold.
come back from the dead
To recover or become active again after a period of decline or inactivity
cowards may die many times before their death
Traditional English proverbial phrase; full definition pending editorial review.
cross my heart and hope to die
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
cut someone dead
Deliberately ignore or show indifference to someone
cà cuống chết đến đít còn cay
Even a dying person can still cause trouble
cây ngay không sợ chết đứng
An honest person has nothing to fear
có con tội sống, không con tội chết
Having children brings troubles in life, but not having them brings troubles after death
cõng voi về dày mả tổ
To bring great shame or disaster to one's family
Dance of Death
An allegorical representa- tion of Death leading all sorts and conditions of men in a dance to the grave, originating in Germany in the 14th century as a kind of morality play, quickly becoming popular m France and England, and surviving later principally by means of pictorial art. There is a series of woodcuts, said to be by Hans Holbein (1538), representing Death dancing after all sorts of persons, beginning with Adam and Eve.
dance on someone's grave
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
dead
To prevent by disabling; to stop.
dead 'n' buried
completely forgotten or put to an end
dead air
Uncomfortable silence or lack of activity
dead and gone
completely dead or non-existent
Dead and on All Souls' Day
Scott has intro- duced the opening into his Lay of the Last Minstrel.
dead asleep
sleeping very soundly
dead beat
So completely beaten or worsted as to have no leg to stand on. Like a dead man with no fight left in him; quite tired out.
dead cargo
A term used by thieves, when they are disappointed in the value of their booty.
dead cat bounce
A brief, false recovery after a severe decline
dead center
Exactly in the middle or target of something
dead drunk
So intoxicated as to be wholly powerless. Pythagoras has finely observed that a man is not to be considered dead drunk till he lies on the floor and stretches out his arms and legs to prevent his going lower. — S. WARREN.
dead duck
A person or thing that is doomed or hopeless
dead end
A situation with no solution or progress
dead fish
Someone who is unresponsive or expressionless
dead giveaway
An action or sign that obviously reveals a fact or intention
dead hand
One who is a " dead hand " at anything can do it every time without fail. See also HAND, DEAD MAH'S; MORTMAIN.
dead heat
A tie or exact equality in a competition
dead heat
A race in which two (or more) leading competitors reach the goal at the same time, thus making it necessary to run the race over again. See HEAT.