“Bite the dust”in other languages
Be defeated, or die.
English
French
Spanish
Same idea, different pictures
All three share one image: a fallen fighter face down, mouth in the dirt. It's as old as Homer, whose Iliad has dying warriors seize the earth in their teeth, and translations of the epic carried it into French, Spanish and English.
In modern use the defeat is often less dramatic: a plan, a car or a sports team can bite the dust.
More sayings in other languages
- Bite the hand that feeds you
- A bitter pill to swallow
- Blow a gale
- Blow off steam
- Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth
- Born yesterday
- Borrow trouble
- Make a hash of something
- Bow out