bite the dust

== English == === Pronunciation === === Verb === bite the dust (third-person singular simple present bites the dust, present participle biting the dust, simple past bit the dust, past participle bitten the dust) (idiomatic, euphemistic) To die. 1900, Samuel Butler, transl. The Odyssey, Book XXII., page 293 Ulysses killed Demoptolemus, Telemachus Euryades, Eumæus Elatus, while the stockman killed Pisander. These all bit the dust, and as the others drew back into a corner Ulysses and his men rushed forward and regained their spears by drawing them from the bodies of the dead 1877, Frances Fuller Victor, Eleven years in the Rocky Mountains and a life on the frontier, Chapter IX, p. 156 Three more warriors bit the dust... (idiomatic) To quit, or fail. ==== Synonyms ==== See also Thesaurus:die ==== Derived terms ==== another one bites the dust ==== Translations ====