shuffled off this mortal coil
Left this life
Shuffled off this mortal coil means died.
The phrase comes from Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy, where Shakespeare uses *mortal coil* to mean the turmoil and troubles of earthly life. *Shuffle off* suggests casting aside or escaping.
The expression is now used with varying degrees of solemnity—sometimes earnest, sometimes wryly euphemistic: He shuffled off this mortal coil at the age of ninety-two.
- demiseCessation of existence
- elegyPoem lamenting the departed
- passingMoving by or temporary
- finitudeState of being bounded
- requiemMass for the deceased
decease · memento mori · expiration · soliloquy · end of life · kicked the bucket · bought the farm · final curtain · meeting one's maker · epitaph · impermanence · cessation · dirge · Hamlet · to be or not to be · eternal rest · great beyond · transience