Den Löffel abgeben

Literally: To hand over the spoon

Example: “Der alte Kater der Familie hat mit zwanzig den Löffel abgegeben.” — The family's old cat kicked the bucket at twenty.

English equivalent: To kick the bucket

Origin: To hand in one's spoon is to die. A spoon was once a personal possession, carried everywhere and needed every day, so giving it up meant giving up life itself. Many local stories are told to explain it: a Black Forest custom of hanging a dead farmer's spoon on the wall, farmhands handing back the spoon lent to them for their service, monks who carried their spoon on the cord of their habit. None of them is documented as the source.