to kick the bucket
7
8.6
- idiom
- /kɪk ðə ˈbʌkɪt/
- Informal
:
estirar la pata
- I hope I don't kick the bucket before I finish.
- father kicked the bucket
- finally kicked the bucket
- old man kicks the bucket
Examples
-
I was so upset when he kicked the bucket, I had no choice but to drown my sorrows.
-
Well, you see, she kicked the bucket before I was born.
-
So, when did the old folks kick the bucket?
-
Good thing Bob kicked the bucket.
-
Oh, for crying out loud, me grandad kicked the bucket this afternoon!
-
Once you know the guy has kicked the bucket, it's all a petty crime, isn't it?
Fiction book (2001) -
Don't tell them their grandmothers are about to kick the bucket.
Fiction book (2002) -
Thinking all the time, I’ll bet, that when old Karl finally kicks the bucket, he’ll do right by him in his will.
Fiction book (1992) -
She kicked the bucket.
-
I hope to see all my family before I kick the bucket.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To stop living and no longer be alive
∞
5.6
To stop working or start to fail
537
3.8
To stop living
121
6.0
To die suddenly or violently, often in large numbers
62
9.9
To stop living, used in formal or old language
52
8.4
Die suddenly, often from shock or extreme tiredness
32
9.0
To die, said in a casual or joking way
31
8.6
To die, often used in medical or formal speech
10
8.6
To die
8
3.8
To die peacefully in a gentle, respectful way
5
9.9
To die suddenly, often in an accident or during fighting
4
8.1
To die or stop working after a long time of problems
2
9.9
To stop living and not come back
1
9.1
To die, often said as a joke to make it seem less serious
To die in a light, not serious way
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
kick + the + bucket
The meaning 'to die' cannot be derived from the literal constituents 'kick' and 'bucket' (and the article 'the'); there is no compositional or metaphorical logic linking striking a bucket to death. A B1 learner who knows the individual words but has not encountered the phrase would not predict this sense, making it a language-specific idiom.
Etymology
The idiom kick the bucket may come from old farms, where bucket was a wooden beam used to hang animals when they were killed. As the animals struggled they would literally kick the bucket, so the phrase now means 'to die'.