# kick the bucket

Pronunciation: say "KIK thuh BUK-it" /ˈkɪk ðə ˈbʌkɪt/

## Idiom

1. To die; a lighthearted, colloquial expression usually chosen for humorous effect. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A joking, informal way of saying that someone dies.
   - _The movie's villain finally kicks the bucket in a ridiculous accident involving a piano._
   - _She says she refuses to kick the bucket before seeing her grandchildren graduate._
2. To break down so completely that it cannot be repaired; said of machines, vehicles, and other equipment. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To stop working completely, with no way to fix it. Used for machines like cars, phones, and computers.
   - _The office printer kicked the bucket right in the middle of tax season._
   - _We've kept this van going for a decade, but the transmission could kick the bucket on any long trip._

## Origin

The origin is uncertain, but the Oxford English Dictionary offers a few theories. One speculative idea is that a person committing suicide would stand on a bucket with a noose around their neck and kick it away. The OED finds more plausible an older sense of 'bucket' as a beam from which a pig was hung before slaughter, so 'kick the bucket' first described the pig's death throes.

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