biting the dust
Meeting one's end
Biting the dust means falling down dead or being killed, especially in battle or combat.
The image is of a person falling face-first to the ground.
The phrase extends to any kind of defeat or failure: Another startup bites the dust.
It can also describe things that break or stop working: My old laptop finally bit the dust.
- kicking the bucketSlang for perishing
- pushing up daisiesEuphemism for being dead
- passingMoving by or temporary
- demiseCessation of existence
- downfallSudden loss of power
fatality · collapse · defeat · meeting one's maker · catastrophe · game over · down for the count · mortality · six feet under · extinction · expiration · final curtain · perish · crashing and burning · ruin · end · lights out · throwing in the towel
biting the dustsurviving
Remaining alive or intact
living · pulling through · making it · staying alive · cheating death
biting the dusttriumphing
Achieving a major victory
succeeding · winning · prevailing · thriving · flourishing
biting the dustholding up
Supporting or delaying
soldiering on · firing on all cylinders · going the distance
bite, bites, bitten, biter, biting, dust, dusts, dusty, dustier