six feet under
5
7.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
seis pies bajo tierra
- I'll tell you what, pretty soon all the over-30s are going to be six feet under.
- buried six feet under
- put me six feet under
- six feet under the ground
Examples
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If you continue to drive recklessly, you might find yourself six feet under.
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And she's six feet under now.
Fiction book (1997) -
And they are six feet under the ground!
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You probably would look better six feet under.
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But by then I will be miles away or six feet under.
Fiction book (1994) -
Six feet under, just like everyone else.
Blog text (16) -
Well you know, fortune and glory, are no use to you when you are six feet under.
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See what good your money will do when you're six feet under.
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You do what you have to do and say what you have to say, and all of it evens out when we're six feet under.
Fiction book (1994) -
That's the story of Flat-nose Freddy... ...who currently resides six feet under.
Synonyms
Placed in the ground and covered with earth after death
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally combines 'six' + 'feet' + 'under' to mean being six feet below (i.e., beneath) ground, so a learner who knows the words can plausibly infer burial and thus death. However, the use is euphemistic and culturally conventionalized (the specific 'six feet' burial image), so the death sense is not entirely a straightforward compositional meaning for all B1 learners without some exposure.
Etymology
Six feet under may come from old graves dug about six feet deep. Being literally under that deep earth gives a clear picture of 'dead', and so we also use the phrase to mean 'buried' or completely covered or sunk.