Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) excellent, wonderful, perfect, e.g. that boy is to die pretty.

1898		E.N. Westcott David Harum 209: Oh! and to ‘top off’ with, a mince-pie to die for.
1950		E. Hemingway letter 9–10 July in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 704: I love A[driana] to die of it.
1970		Velvet Underground ‘Sweet Jane’ 🎵 And children are the only ones that blush / And life is just to die.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 9: Roll-top desks that were to die over.
1980		A. Maupin More Tales of the City (1984) 85: He wore cut-offs to die.
1999		Indep. on Sun. Real Life 12 Sept. 2: That ‘to die for’ crocodile or alligator bag.
2003		K. Cage Gayle 98/1: TDF adj. (abbr.) to die for = sexually attractive, but unavailable (Pity he’s BM He’s T.D.F.).
2008		C. Faust Money Shot [ebook] I had a solid business plan, an electronic Rolodex to die for and Didi as my right-hand woman.
2013		A. Sim ‘Through the Perilous Night’ in ThugLit Feb. [ebook] ‘[M]e with loads of dough and a wardrobe to die for’.