# die

Pronunciation: say "DY" /daɪ/

## Verb

1. To stop living; to suffer death, whether from a cause ('die of cancer', 'die from wounds'), in a certain way or state ('die young', 'die a hero'), or for a cause.
   - Simple: To stop living and become dead.
   - _Soldiers who die in battle are honored each year._
   - _The old oak finally died after the long drought._
2. Of a thing such as a language, custom, hope, or proposal, to come to an end or cease to exist.
   - Simple: To stop existing or come to an end, as when a language, a hope, or a plan dies.
   - _If children stop learning them, minority languages can die within a generation or two._
   - _The bill died in committee._
3. Of a machine, device, battery, or computer program, to stop working or running, often suddenly.
   - Simple: Of a machine, battery, or program, to stop working, often suddenly.
   - _The car's engine died at the intersection and wouldn't restart._
   - _Cheap batteries die faster than people expect._
7. To yearn intensely for something, or to do something.
   - Simple: To want very much to have or do something.
   - _She was dying to tell someone the good news._
   - _Honestly, I'd die for a decent cup of coffee in this town._
5. To lose a life or be eliminated from a video game, often shown with a deathlike animation. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To lose a life or get knocked out in a video game.
   - _If you die in the boss fight, you respawn back at the checkpoint._
   - _She died three times before clearing the final stage._
8. Informal: to be so overcome by laughter, embarrassment, or another strong feeling that one feels helpless, as in 'I nearly died laughing'.
   - Simple: To feel something so strongly, like laughter or embarrassment, that you can hardly cope.
   - _The whole room died laughing at her impression of the boss._
   - _Fans absolutely die when their favorite singer waves at them._
9. To fail to get any laughter from an audience, as a comedian or performer. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To get no laughs from an audience while performing comedy.
   - _The headliner died on stage, getting nothing but silence after every punchline._
   - _Rookie comics expect to die on stage at least once._
12. To sink, faint, pine, or languish, as from weakness, discouragement, or love.
   - Simple: To grow weak, faint, or filled with longing.
   - _Romantic heroines were forever dying of unrequited love._
   - _When she read the letter saying he would never come back, she felt her heart die within her._
13. With 'to', to become as if dead to something or someone, no longer moved by it or no longer in contact, as in 'die to sin'.
   - Simple: To stop caring about something, or to be cut off from people, as if you were dead to them.
   - _Believers are urged to die to sin and live anew._
   - _Over time he died to ambition and sought only peace._
15. Of liquor or other drink, to grow flat, stale, and lifeless.
   - Simple: Of a drink, to go flat and lose its taste or fizz.

## Noun

4. A small object, usually a cube, with numbered or marked faces, thrown to produce a random result in games of chance.
   - Simple: A small object, usually a cube, with dots or numbers on its sides, thrown in games.
   - _The casino replaces each die regularly to prevent tampering._
   - _A weighted die can be used to cheat at games of chance._
6. A tool or mold used to cut, press, stamp, or cast material such as metal or plastic into a particular shape or design, as in making coins.
   - Simple: A tool that cuts or presses metal or another material into a particular shape.
   - _The press forces sheet metal against the die to punch out each part._
   - _Workers replaced the worn die that had been cutting the gaskets._
10. A small block of semiconductor material cut from a wafer, functioning as an independent device or integrated circuit.
   - Simple: A small block cut from a silicon wafer that works as a single chip.
   - _After fabrication, the wafer is sliced so each die can be packaged individually._
   - _A single die may contain billions of transistors._
11. A tool for cutting an external screw thread onto a rod or pipe, unlike a tap, which cuts internal threads.
   - Simple: A tool that cuts threads onto the outside of a rod or bolt.
   - _The machinist selected a die sized for a half-inch thread._
   - _Running a die along the shaft produced a precise external thread._

## Noun

14. Any small object shaped as a cube or square solid block. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A small cube-shaped object or block.

## Other meanings

- (noun) The cubical body of a pedestal, set between its base and cornice; a plinth.
- (adverb) Per day, as written in medical prescriptions and dosing instructions.
- (verb) To lose one's life because of something named after the word with, as in perishing with cold or hunger.
- (verb) To lose one's life from a cause named after to, used where from would be usual, as in died to his wounds.
- (verb) In architecture, of a molding or similar feature, to fade out gradually into a sloping or curved surface.
- (noun) Chance or fortune, or an outcome decided as if by rolling a die.
- (noun) An old way of spelling dye, a substance used to color cloth or hair.
- (verb) An old way of spelling the verb dye, to change the color of something by soaking it.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–3, 5, 7–9, 12–13, 15** — From Middle English deyen, probably from Old Norse deyja, though inheritance from an Old English *dīeġan is also possible; both go back to Proto-Germanic *dawjaną ("to die"). It pushed aside the native Old English words sweltan (giving "swelt") and steorfan (giving modern "starve").
**Meanings 4, 6, 10–11, 14** — English die comes through Middle English dee and Old French de (modern French dé), probably from Latin datum. Datum is a form of datus ("given"), which is the past participle of dō ("to give"), whose ancestry reaches Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- ("to give"). Die and datum are probably doublets. Die took the place of Old English tasul or tesul ("die"), borrowed from Latin tessella, a diminutive formed from tessera ("die, cube").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/die (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).