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Dictionary definition: death
- Article from:
- The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
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Copyright© The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006. (Hide copyright information)
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death
often (as Death) represented in art and literature as a skeleton or an old man holding a scythe, the personification of the power that destroys life.
death in the pot a biblical phrase, from the story of a famine during which a pottage containing poisonous herbs was made by Elisha's servant for the sons of the prophets; when they cried out, ‘O thou man of God, there is death in the pot’ (2 Kings 5:40), Elisha added meal to the dish, and they were able to eat it safely.
death is the great leveller all people will be equal in death, whatever their material prosperity. The saying is recorded in English from the early 18th century, but the Alexandrian-born Latin poet ...