to shuffle off this mortal coil
2
9.9
- idiom
- Archaic
:
dejar este mundo
- You are safe at its helm for as long as you wish... or until you shuffle off this mortal coil.
K, Melomas, now that you've shuffled off this mortal coil.
- K, Melomas, now that you've shuffled off this mortal coil.
Examples
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As we reflect on life, we realize that eventually, we will all shuffle off this mortal coil and face the unknown.
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For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause.
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"We have shuffled off this mortal coil..."
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At least the landlord's shuffled off this mortal coil.
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"For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, "when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, "must give us pause."
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Can art help us, to paraphrase Hamlet, "shuffle off this mortal coil"?
Academic text (2007) -
He remains a great addition to humanity and one that will be remembered long after most of us have shuffled off this mortal coil.
Blog text (1) -
And when the time comes, as the poet says, to shuffle off this mortal coil, you won't shuffle, Mr. Hawk.
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And Harald R. had the luck to be informed by me of all the events before he shuffled off this mortal coil (as he said) to that bourne from which no traveler seems to return.
Fiction book (2001) -
Which leads to a sad scene in which Roger is phoning old contacts he hasn't bothered to keep up with, apparently looking for business he hadn't thought he needed to contribute to the agency and, sadly, finding that some of his peeps have shuffled off this mortal coil.
Blog text (14)
Synonyms
10
8.6
To die
8
3.8
To die peacefully in a gentle, respectful way
1
9.7
To stop living as a natural part of life
To die or come close to death, often said in poems
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
shuffle + off + this + mortal + coil
This is a literary, archaic idiom: 'mortal coil' is a figurative phrase for the burdens of life and 'shuffle off' is a metaphorical action, so the overall meaning 'to die' cannot be straightforwardly composed from the literal senses of the parts. A B1 learner who knows the individual words would unlikely infer the idiomatic sense without prior exposure because the collocation and historical metaphor are not transparently predictable.
Etymology
Shuffle off this mortal coil comes from Shakespeare. It creates the picture of someone slipping away from a heavy coil or rope: shuffle off means to step away and mortal coil means the busy, troubled life, so the phrase means 'to die'.