Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to catch your death

to catch your death

5 8.2
To become very sick from being outside in the cold, often said as a warning
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : coger un resfriado
  • You'll catch your death of cold if you've not got a jacket or a hat or something on.
  • catch your death of cold
  • go and catch your death
  • catch your death running

Examples

  • "You'll catch your death in this wet grass."

    Fiction book (1996)

  • I'll go and get the hair dryer before you catch your death of cold.

    Remember Me (2022)

  • You could catch your death of cold in here.

    Free Fire (2017)

  • Come on inside before you catch your death.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • You will catch your death out here.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Get you home before you catch your death of pneumonia.

    Gods and Monsters (1998)

  • You'll catch your death out there.

    Wolfwalkers (2020)

  • Come on in before you catch your death of dampness.

    Gone with the Wind (1939)

  • I better get you home before you catch your death from pneumonia.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • You'd better put on a coat before you catch your death out there in the cold.

Synonyms

to catch cold
vsto catch your death
10 1.0

To become ill with a cold after being cold or near someone sick

is an exaggerated warning about becoming seriously ill rather than a mild infection
to catch a bronch
vsto catch your death
  • Archaic
9.9

To get a sickness in your chest that makes you cough a lot

is an exaggerated warning about becoming very ill from chilly exposure

How Ill

to catch your death
  • Informal
5 8.2
to take ill
9 5.6
chill
87 1.0

Surface Forms

catch your death infinitive

Morphology

catch + your + death

The verb 'catch' + illness sense and the noun 'death' make the gist (a hyperbolic warning about becoming very ill or even dying) inferable from the parts, so learners who know the words can get the basic warning meaning. However, the phrase is idiomatic and hyperbolic (often specifically about catching a cold) and its conventional usage and nuance are not fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Catch your death may come from old warnings when parents told children they could catch a terrible illness, even death, if they stayed out in the cold. That's why today people use it as a strong warning or an exaggeration meaning 'to become very ill'.