at death's door
Meaning: Very close to dying, or feeling extremely ill.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “I had the flu last week and felt like I was at death's door.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Death pictured as a house one is about to enter. The Bible speaks of drawing near "the gates of death" (Psalm 107); the exact phrase "at death's door" is found from the 16th century.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: À l'article de la mort — literally: At the article of death
More idioms — Daily Life
- play devil's advocate — To argue against something, not out of belief, but to test the argument.
- every which way — In all directions, in disorder.
- long time no see — A friendly greeting to someone one has not seen for a long time.
- a Judas kiss — An act of apparent friendship that hides betrayal.
- the ball is in your court — It is now your turn to act or decide.
- all hands on deck — Everyone is needed to help right now.
More English idioms
- a Tower of Babel — A noisy scene where many people speak different languages, or a confusion of voices.
- a banana republic — A small, politically unstable country dominated by a corrupt elite or foreign business.
- pick holes in — To find small faults in something, often unfairly.
- go under the knife — To have a surgical operation.
- take someone down a peg — To make an arrogant person more humble.
- you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy — People keep the habits and character of where they grew up.
From our untranslatable words
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