deathbed

nounattested in dialogue

United Kingdom//ˈdɛθˌbɛd//

The bed on which someone dies.

noun

1
The bed on which someone dies.
He was once on his way to an old woman, who was on her death-bed and who had led a wicked life.
2
The last hours before death.
3
A grave; the site of a burial or entombment.
“Will you ask our oldest warriors to build me a barrow? Ask them to climb this headland and build me a death pile high on its top. Let my deathbed rise high above Hronesnesse.”

Etymology

From Middle English dethbed, from Old English dēaþbedd (“deathbed; grave”), equivalent to death + bed. Cognate with Swedish dödsbädd (“deathbed”). Compare also Dutch sterfbed (“deathbed”), German Sterbebett and Totenbett (both “deathbed”), Danish dødsleje (“deathbed”).

Forms

plural: deathbeds

dearly · In a dear or precious manner.death · The cessation of life and all associated processes; the end…Death · The personification of death, often a skeleton with a scythe,…

deathbed · The bed on which someone dies.

deb · A debutante (a young woman who makes her first formal…Deb · A diminutive of the female given name Deborah.debate · To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in…

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.