Death

See also: death and deaþ

English
Death as a skeleton with a scythe.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, an 1887 painting by Victor Vasnetsov. The Lamb is visible at the top.

Proper noun

Death

  1. The personification of death, often a skeleton with a scythe, and one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
    Synonyms: the angel of death, Azrael, the Grim Reaper, the reaper, the pale rider, the rider, psychopomp, Santa Muerte, the Shinigami
    Death can be seen on a tarot card.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 6:7–8:
      7 And when hee had opened the fourth seale, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
      8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, & his name that sate on him was Death, and hell followed with him: and power was giuen vnto them, ouer the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword, & with hunger, and with death, and with the beastes of the earth.
    • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Four. The Last of the Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 137:
      Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy dominion!
    • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
      He had drunk more than was fit for him, and he was singing some light song, when he saw approaching, as he said, the pale horse mentioned in the Revelation, with Death seated as the rider.

Coordinate terms

Derived terms
  • I am become Death, destroyer of worlds

Translations

See also
  • La Calavera Catrina
  • Hades

Further reading

Anagrams
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