bite the dust

Verb

bite the dust (third-person singular simple present bites the dust, present participle biting the dust, simple past bit the dust, past participle bitten the dust)

1. (euphemistic, idiomatic) To die.
   • Ulysses killed Demoptolemus, Telemachus Euryades, Eumæus Elatus, while the stockman killed Pisander. These all bit the dust, and as the others drew back into a corner Ulysses and his men rushed forward and regained their spears by drawing them from the bodies of the dead1900, Samuel Butler, transl. The Odyssey, Book XXII., page 293
   • Three more warriors bit the dust...1877, Frances Fuller Victor, Eleven years in the Rocky Mountains and a life on the frontier, Chapter IX, p. 156
2. (idiomatic) To quit, or fail.
   • My old backpack finally bit the dust the other day.
   • London calling, now don't look to us / Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust1979, “London Calling”, The Clash (music)