breathe one's last

Perhaps first used in Shakespeare's Henry VI, part 3 (c. 1591). Compare breathe (“to live”).

breathe one's last (third-person singular simple present breathes one's last, present participle breathing one's last, simple past and past participle breathed one's last)

1. die
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act V, Scene 2:

     Ah, Warwick! Montague hath breathed his last;
     And to the latest gasp cried out for Warwick,

   • 1852 September 9, Thomas J. Plummer, “Obituary notices”, in The Millennial Harbinger, page 120:

     She breathed her last surrounded by her family and friends, commending them to God and the study of his word.

2. (uncommon) be defeated
   • 2009, Ron Darling with Daniel Paisner, The Complete Game: Reflections on Baseball, Pitching, and Life on the Mound, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 236:

     For the longest while, the loss didn't seem real. For going on four hours, I'd done pretty much what I wanted to on that mound. I couldn't just shut that off, now that we had finally breathed our last.

• breathe one's last breath
• draw one's last breath

• “[1–26–2017 breathe-ones-last]” in the Collins English Dictionary, Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers.