dies

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of die.

   A honeybee dies soon after it stings a person.

   Without rain, the young corn dies in the cracked field.

   Note

   The preposition that follows carries the cause. Dies of and dies from both name it directly, with from somewhat more common in medicine and the sciences. Dies for leans toward a wider motive, as in a soldier who dies for his country. Dies with is archaic, and dies to is sometimes proscribed. The past is died and the participle dying. The same spelling also serves as the toolmaker's plural.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of die.

   The toolmaker hardened the steel dies before they entered the stamping press.

   Several dies cracked under the repeated pressure of the high-speed line.

   Note

   Every working sense of die takes this plural. That covers the plinth of a pedestal, cutting and stamping tools, molds for metal and plastic, and the chips fractured from a semiconductor wafer. Screw-cutting dies come paired with taps: dies cut external threads and taps cut internal ones. Only the gaming cube takes dice, so a press shop has dies and a board game has dice.

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