Word.ws English Dictionary

die roaring for a priest

die roaring for a priest verb: to repent too late of one's sins; (hence) be damned.

Verb

die roaring for a priest (third-person singular simple present dies roaring for a priest, present participle dying roaring for a priest, simple past and past participle died roaring for a priest)

  1. (Ireland, colloquial, dated) To repent too late of one's sins; (hence) be damned.
    • “God’s curse down on you, Burke; may you never lie quiet in bed; may your children wither and die; may your rooftree fall; may your seed and breed in every generation from this day forward bring forth a thief or a murderer of his own kind; may brother rise against brother in every generation; may...1973, Eilís Dillon, Across the Bitter Sea, page 436
    • Suffice it to say that the barman physically hustled him towards the door, as Gus struggled and shouted, "I hope you die roaring for a priest."1996, Marian Keyes, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Poolbeg, →ISBN, page 654

Forms of die roaring for a priest

third-person singular presentdies roaring for a priest
present participledying roaring for a priest
past participledied roaring for a priest
pastdied roaring for a priest
alternative formdie roaring for the priest

Origin of die roaring for a priest

Variation of die roaring; in Catholicism, without a priest a dying person cannot receive the sacraments of confession or extreme unction.

Questions about die roaring for a priest

What does die roaring for a priest mean?
Die roaring for a priest means to repent too late of one's sins; (hence) be damned.
What part of speech is die roaring for a priest?
Die roaring for a priest is a verb.
What is the past tense of die roaring for a priest?
The past tense of die roaring for a priest is died roaring for a priest.

Words near die roaring for a priest in the dictionary

  1. die on the vine
  2. die out
  3. die plate
  4. die plates
  5. die roaring
  6. die roaring for a priest
  7. Die Stem
  8. die the way one lived
  9. die, die
  10. die-away
  11. die-cast

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: die roaring for a priest (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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