to cross the Styx
- idiom
- Literature
:
cruzar el Estigia
- As his illness worsened, he joked about being ready to cross the Styx.
Examples
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The old sailor feared he might cross the Styx during the storm at sea.
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In his final moments, he quietly accepted his fate, knowing he was about to cross the Styx.
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Many poets have written about what it means to cross the Styx.
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He will cross the Styx soon.
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Many believe that when you cross the Styx, you enter the afterlife.
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As her health declined, she made light of her condition, saying she was ready to cross the Styx.
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The ancient texts often ponder the journey one takes when they cross the Styx into the afterlife.
Synonyms
537
3.8
To stop living
2
9.9
To stop living, often said in poems or books
1
9.7
To stop living as a natural part of life
1
8.5
To stop living
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
Given knowledge of the constituents — especially 'Styx' as the river souls cross to the afterlife — the sense 'to die' is directly derivable from 'cross' + 'the Styx'. Although literary and allusive, the composition is transparent: crossing a river that leads to the afterlife naturally maps to death, so a learner who knows the constituent meanings will understand it.
Etymology
Cross the Styx comes from old Greek stories. In those stories the Styx is a river that separates the living from the dead, and to cross it means to pass into the world of the dead. So saying someone will cross the Styx means they will 'die' or are very near death.