From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Death \Death\ (d[e^]th), n. [OE. deth, dea[eth], AS.
de['a][eth]; akin to OS. d[=o][eth], D. dood, G. tod, Icel.
dau[eth]i, Sw. & Dan. d["o]d, Goth. dau[thorn]us; from a verb
meaning to die. See {Die}, v. i., and cf. {Dead}.]
1. The cessation of all vital phenomena without capability of
resuscitation, either in animals or plants.
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Note: Local death is going on at all times and in all parts
of the living body, in which individual cells and
elements are being cast off and replaced by new; a
process essential to life. General death is of two
kinds; death of the body as a whole (somatic or
systemic death), and death of the tissues. By the
former is implied the absolute cessation of the
functions of the brain, the circulatory and the
respiratory organs; by the latter the entire
disappearance of the vital actions of the ultimate
structural constituents of the body. When death takes
place, the body as a whole dies first, the death of the
tissues sometimes not occurring until after a
considerable interval. --Huxley.
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2. Total privation or loss; extinction; cessation; as, the
death of memory.
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The death of a language can not be exactly compared
with the death of a plant. --J. Peile.
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3. Manner of dying; act or state of passing from life.
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A death that I abhor. --Shak.
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Let me die the death of the righteous. --Num. xxiii.
10.
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4. Cause of loss of life.
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Swiftly flies the feathered death. --Dryden.
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He caught his death the last county sessions.
--Addison.
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5. Personified: The destroyer of life, -- conventionally
represented as a skeleton with a scythe.
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Death! great proprietor of all. --Young.
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And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name
that sat on him was Death. --Rev. vi. 8.
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6. Danger of death. "In deaths oft." --2 Cor. xi. 23.
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7. Murder; murderous character.
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Not to suffer a man of death to live. --Bacon.
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8. (Theol.) Loss of spiritual life.
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To be carnally minded is death. --Rom. viii.
6.
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9. Anything so dreadful as to be like death.
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It was death to them to think of entertaining such
doctrines. --Atterbury.
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And urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto
death. --Judg. xvi.
16.
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Note: Death is much used adjectively and as the first part of
a compound, meaning, in general, of or pertaining to
death, causing or presaging death; as, deathbed or
death bed; deathblow or death blow, etc.
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{Black death}. See {Black death}, in the Vocabulary.
{Civil death}, the separation of a man from civil society, or
the debarring him from the enjoyment of civil rights, as
by banishment, attainder, abjuration of the realm,
entering a monastery, etc. --Blackstone.
{Death adder}. (Zool.)
(a) A kind of viper found in South Africa ({Acanthophis
tortor}); -- so called from the virulence of its
venom.
(b) A venomous Australian snake of the family
{Elapid[ae]}, of several species, as the
{Hoplocephalus superbus} and {Acanthopis antarctica}.
{Death bell}, a bell that announces a death.
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The death bell thrice was heard to ring. --Mickle.
{Death candle}, a light like that of a candle, viewed by the
superstitious as presaging death.
{Death damp}, a cold sweat at the coming on of death.
{Death fire}, a kind of ignis fatuus supposed to forebode
death.
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And round about in reel and rout,
The death fires danced at night. --Coleridge.
{Death grapple}, a grapple or struggle for life.
{Death in life}, a condition but little removed from death; a
living death. [Poetic] "Lay lingering out a five years'
death in life." --Tennyson.
{Death rate}, the relation or ratio of the number of deaths
to the population.
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At all ages the death rate is higher in towns than
in rural districts. --Darwin.
{Death rattle}, a rattling or gurgling in the throat of a
dying person.
{Death's door}, the boundary of life; the partition dividing
life from death.
{Death stroke}, a stroke causing death.
{Death throe}, the spasm of death.
{Death token}, the signal of approaching death.
{Death warrant}.
(a) (Law) An order from the proper authority for the
execution of a criminal.
(b) That which puts an end to expectation, hope, or joy.
{Death wound}.
(a) A fatal wound or injury.
(b) (Naut.) The springing of a fatal leak.
{Spiritual death} (Scripture), the corruption and perversion
of the soul by sin, with the loss of the favor of God.
{The gates of death}, the grave.
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Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? --Job
xxxviii. 17.
{The second death}, condemnation to eternal separation from
God. --Rev. ii. 11.
{To be the death of}, to be the cause of death to; to make
die. "It was one who should be the death of both his
parents." --Milton.
Syn: {Death}, {Decease}, {Demise}, {Departure}, {Release}.
Usage: Death applies to the termination of every form of
existence, both animal and vegetable; the other words
only to the human race. Decease is the term used in
law for the removal of a human being out of life in
the ordinary course of nature. Demise was formerly
confined to decease of princes, but is now sometimes
used of distinguished men in general; as, the demise
of Mr. Pitt. Departure and release are peculiarly
terms of Christian affection and hope. A violent death
is not usually called a decease. Departure implies a
friendly taking leave of life. Release implies a
deliverance from a life of suffering or sorrow.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Civil \Civ"il\, a. [L. civilis, fr. civis citizen: cf. F. civil.
See {City}.]
1. Pertaining to a city or state, or to a citizen in his
relations to his fellow citizens or to the state; within
the city or state.
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2. Subject to government; reduced to order; civilized; not
barbarous; -- said of the community.
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England was very rude and barbarous; for it is but
even the other day since England grew civil.
--Spenser.
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3. Performing the duties of a citizen; obedient to
government; -- said of an individual.
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Civil men come nearer the saints of God than others;
they come within a step or two of heaven. --Preston
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4. Having the manners of one dwelling in a city, as opposed
to those of savages or rustics; polite; courteous;
complaisant; affable.
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Note: "A civil man now is one observant of slight external
courtesies in the mutual intercourse between man and
man; a civil man once was one who fulfilled all the
duties and obligations flowing from his position as a
'civis' and his relations to the other members of that
'civitas.'" --Trench
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5. Pertaining to civic life and affairs, in distinction from
military, ecclesiastical, or official state.
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6. Relating to rights and remedies sought by action or suit
distinct from criminal proceedings.
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{Civil action}, an action to enforce the rights or redress
the wrongs of an individual, not involving a criminal
proceeding.
{Civil architecture}, the architecture which is employed in
constructing buildings for the purposes of civil life, in
distinction from military and naval architecture, as
private houses, palaces, churches, etc.
{Civil death}. (Law.) See under {Death}.
{Civil engineering}. See under {Engineering}.
{Civil law}. See under {Law}.
{Civil list}. See under {List}.
{Civil remedy} (Law), that given to a person injured, by
action, as opposed to a criminal prosecution.
{Civil service}, all service rendered to and paid for by the
state or nation other than that pertaining to naval or
military affairs.
{Civil service reform}, the substitution of business
principles and methods for the spoils system in the
conduct of the civil service, esp. in the matter of
appointments to office.
{Civil state}, the whole body of the laity or citizens not
included under the military, maritime, and ecclesiastical
states.
{Civil suit}. Same as {Civil action}.
{Civil war}. See under {War}.
{Civil year}. See under {Year}.
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From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
civil death
n 1: the legal status of a person who is alive but who has been
deprived of the rights and privileges of a citizen or a
member of society; the legal status of one sentenced to
life imprisonment
2: cancellation of civil rights [syn: {attainder}, {civil
death}]
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