go the way of all flesh
English
Etymology
Equivalent to Danish gå al kødets gang, German den Weg allen Fleisches gehen.
Verb
- (euphemistic) To die; to follow a course leading to death or extinction.
- 1624, John Donne, "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions," Meditation XVII:
- ...That though the body be going the way of all flesh, yet that soul is going the way of all saints.
- 1888, Thomas Hardy, "The Three Strangers," in Wessex Tales,
- The first stranger handed his neighbor the family mug—a huge vessel of brown ware, having its upper edge worn away like a threshold by the rub of whole generations of thirsty lips that had gone the way of all flesh.
- 1922, John Galsworthy, chapter 11, in The Forsyte Saga:
- What could one do? Buy them and stick them in a lumber-room? No; they had to go the way of all flesh and furniture, and be worn out.
- 1967, "Tops & Bottoms," Time, 18 Aug.,
- On the U.S. West Coast, the clubs and restaurants that feature topless female entertainers and waitresses also seemed to be going the way of all flesh. In Los Angeles, 20% of the joints have closed.
- 2006, Laura Wertheimer, "Clerical Dissent, Popular Piety, and Sanctity in 14th-Century Peterborough," Journal of British Studies, vol. 45, no. 1, p. 3,
- Laurence of Oxford went the way of all flesh on the gallows.
- 1624, John Donne, "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions," Meditation XVII:
Synonyms
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