death's head
1
9.1
- noun
- /dɛθz hɛd/
:
calavera
- His face, so close to mine, contorts like a death's head.
- death's head insignia
- death's head grin
- death's head skull
Examples
-
The old death's-head.
-
Another explosion of green and the second death's head comes tumbling away.
Fiction book (1993) -
"Thank you," I said, but Dali was already walking toward the woman with the death's head.
Fiction book (2002) -
The RIDER is dressed in black with glowing death's head masks.
Fiction book (1993) -
The death's-head mask he had worn since destroying the Je'har hung on a silver chain around his neck.
Fiction book (1997) -
Alex hears a roar, glances behind her, and sees four death's head riders on her tail.
Fiction book (1993) -
A couple of cabbages bear the death's head emblem and inscription, "We cabbage all we can from the Yankees."
Academic text (2000) -
The stranger chuckled to himself, his lips curling upward, bunching his thin face into a death's head grin.
Fiction book (1999) -
The death's head symbolized mortality in the artist's haunting painting.
-
He wore a death's head ring as a reminder of his own mortality.
Synonyms
3
4.2
A symbol showing a skull above two crossed bones that warns people of poison or danger
1
9.9
An object like a skull or ring that reminds people they will die
How Morbid
Surface Forms
Morphology
death's + head
The meaning 'a skull or representation of death' is directly derivable from combining 'death' (the concept of dying) with 'head' (the human head): it denotes a head associated with death, i.e. a skull or death-symbol. The possessive compounding and the widespread cross-linguistic pattern of using a 'death-head' as a symbol make this composition readily understandable to a B1 learner who knows both words.
Etymology
Death's head comes from the old custom of carving or painting a human head as a skull on tombstones and flags to show 'death'. So today a death's head means a skull or its picture used as a symbol of 'death'.