Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(UK Und.) a desperate villain, undeterred by any form of opposition.

c.1850

Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict. n.p.: Die-devil rasp a desperate villain, who will cut or fight through every thing.

(Aus./Irish) to commit oneself unreservedly.

1837		R.M. Bird Nick of the Woods II 85: I came here to show [...] that I’m the man, Ralph Stackpole, to die dog for them that pats me.
1843		L.H. Medina Nick of the Woods II iii: I’m the man to die dog for them that pats me.
1903		A. Adams Log of a Cowboy 36: I never questioned that man’s advice; it was ‘die dog or eat the hatchet’.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 36: It was a case of die, dog, or eat the meat-axe.
2002		D. Maccash at Mudcat Cafe 🌐 Oh well, I’m running the risk of offending fellow Ultonians by this post. Still, as me oul’ da would have said, die dog or shite the licence!

to die in a cowardly manner, repenting or showing any act of contrition on the gallows, where a plucky villain was supposed to display bravado.

1756		W. Toldervy Hist. of the Two Orphans IV 52: Therefore, Sir, added he, either put on a resolution to serve your fortune, by producing the money, or entirely give it up, decline, submit, be a wretch, and die dunghill.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1794		Sporting Mag. Oct. V 6/1: I am spirit to the backbone – never die dunghill.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.

see horse’s nightcap under horse n.

1. to be hanged.

1937–84

Partridge DSUE (1984) 306/2: late C.17–early 19.

2. (US) to die by violence, esp. in a gunfight.

1888		Denver Republican 9 Apr. n.p.: When in liquor he was quarrelsome and the prediction was commonly made that he would die with his boots on [F&H].
1937		(con. WW1) E.C. Parsons Great Adventure 333: I know he didn’t want to die, but if it was so written in the stars, he died as he would have wished—with his boots on, fighting to the last.

3. to die when still hard at work, ‘in harness’.

1947		L.J. Valentine Night Stick 240: Policemen and policewomen can well hold their heads high. They wear their courage with modesty. They live and they die with their boots on.
1991		L. Schoenberg q. in Firestone Swing, Swing, Swing (1993) 450: He was determined to go out with his boots on, exactly the way he wanted to go, and that’s what he did.

see under shoe n.

see under arse n.

see under furrow n.

to be hanged.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Die like a Dog, to be hang’d . . . Die on a Fish-day, or in his shoes, the same.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy II 285: Or else maist thou die, like a Dog in a string.

to die unmarried.

1768		A. Ross Helenore in Wattie Scot. Works (1938) 99: I hear by far she dy’d like Jenkin’s hen.
1805		A. Scott Poems ‘The Old Maid’ 87: I ance had sweethearts nine or ten, And dearly dawted we’ the men... But Oh! the death of Jenkins’ hen, I shudder at it.

see acceleration n.

to be hanged.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1936		L. Pound ‘American Euphemisms for Dying’ in AS XI:3 200: Cause to die of a hempen fever.

to be hanged.

c.1698

B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Die like a Dog, to be hang’d . . . Die on a Fish-day, or in his shoes, the same.

(Aus.) to break one’s promise, to fail to finish something one has undertaken to do.

1907		Arrow (Sydney) 20 Apr. 7/1: There was no excuse for Belle Blue, and as to E.L.O., he made a run on the rails which looked like danger, and then died on It.
1910		Eve. Jrnl (Adelaide) 24 Aug. 4/6: Johnson told witness that Black had promised to assist him in the robbery, but had ‘died’ on it.
1918		Age (Melbourne) 8 May 6/8: Mr. L. Whelan opened the proceedings, remarking that the man convened it had apparently ‘died on it’.
1930		Dly Standard (Brisbane) 10 Mar. 8/1: Idanora made a smart run coming to the home turn, but died on it in the straight .
1939		Chron. (Adelaide) 15 June 23/6: West Wind made a run half-way up the straight, but died on it, her saddle having slipped forward.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang.

(US teen) to lack a social life, to stay in at home.

1947

Baltimore Sun 22 June Magazine 6/4: Die on the vine . . . stay at home.

to be hanged.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: You will die the death of a trooper’s horse, that is, with your shoes-on; a jocular method of telling any one he will be hanged.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

(US) to die violently, esp. by hanging.

1992

Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore I 431: To ‘die with a hardon’ means to be hanged.

to be hanged.

[1829		‘Pickpocket’s Chaunt’ (trans. of ‘En roulant de vergne en vergne’ in Vidocq 1829) IV 262: And we shall caper a-heel-and-toeing, / A Newgate hornpipe some fine day / With the mots their ogles throwing, / And old Cotton humming his pray].
1836		Bell’s Wkly Messenger 11 Dec. 398/1: He got lagged and scragged — that’s time of day with the best ’uns — a rope for their cravat, and cotton in their ears.
1864		Athenaeum 29 Oct. No. 1931 Rev. of Sl. Dict. n.p.: When a late chaplain of Newgate [Rev. Mr. Cotton] used to attend poor wretches to the scaffold, standing by their side to the last moment, they were said to ‘die with cotton in their ears!’ .
1866		(ref. to 1839) Temple Bar 16 548: Mr. Cotton [...] thought of a good opportunity for retiring. ‘I have now,’ he said, ‘accompanied just three hundred and sixty-five poor fellows to the gallows. That's one for every day in the year. I may retire after seeing such a round number die with cotton in their ears’.
1874		H. Mayhew London Characters 348: The rogues were pleased to style such a mode of making their exit from the world as ‘dying with Cotton in one’s ears’.
1894		Burnley Exp. 8 Aug. 4/8: Victims of the hangman’s rope were said to ‘die with cotton in their ears’.

see die in one’s boots