breathe your last

breathe your last
   to die
   Circumlocution and evasion rather than euphemism, as you cannot expect to live more than two or three minutes after the event:
    ... the quicker that one breathed his last, the better, and I hurried up with my lance... and drove it into his throat. (Fraser, 1969)
   For the Nazis, a breathing problem was a routine cause of death given to the family of a murdered person:
    He received notification... of her death in Brandenburg from 'breathing problems'. (Burleigh, 2000 — an epileptic woman was killed as a matter of policy, along with others who had chronic illnesses, in 1940)

How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms. . 2014.

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  • breathe your last — see ↑last, 4 • • • Main Entry: ↑breathe breathe your last literary : to die This is the room where he breathed his last. [=where he breathed his last breath; where he died] • • • Main Entry: ↑last * * * breathe your ˈlast …   Useful english dictionary

  • breathe your last — When you breathe your last, you die …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • breathe your last — breathe (your) last to die. Jay made the trip north to be with his mother when she breathed her last. Usage notes: also used to describe the end of a organization, belief, or relationship: Amtrak may shortly breathe its last without more funding …   New idioms dictionary

  • breathe your last —    When you breathe your last, you die.   (Dorking School Dictionary) …   English Idioms & idiomatic expressions

  • Breathe your last —   When you breathe your last, you die …   Dictionary of English idioms

  • breathe your last (breath) — literary phrase to die Thesaurus: to die or to be killedsynonym Main entry: breathe …   Useful english dictionary

  • breathe your last — See at: breathe easy …   New idioms dictionary

  • Breathe Your Name — Infobox Single Name = Breathe Your Name Artist = Sixpence None the Richer from Album = Divine Discontent Released = 2002 Format = CD Single Recorded = 2002 Genre = Pop Length = 3:56 (Album Version) Label = Reprise/Squint Writer = Matt Slocum… …   Wikipedia

  • breathe — W3S3 [bri:ð] v ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(air)¦ 2¦(blow)¦ 3 somebody can breathe easy/easily 4 breathe a sigh of relief 5 be breathing down somebody s neck 6 not breathe a word 7 breathe life into something 8¦(skin)¦ 9¦(clothes/fabric)¦ …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • breathe — [ brið ] verb ** 1. ) intransitive or transitive to take air into your lungs through your nose or mouth and let it out again: He held her so tightly she could hardly breathe. We can no longer depend on the quality of the air we breathe. breathe… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

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