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Grim Reaper

American  

noun

  1. the personification of death as a man or cloaked skeleton holding a scythe.

Grim Reaper Cultural  

  1. A figure commonly used to represent death. The Grim Reaper is a skeleton or solemn-looking man carrying a scythe, who cuts off people's lives as though he were harvesting grain.

Usage

What is the Grim Reaper? The Grim Reaper is a fictional skeleton wearing a black robe and wielding a scythe, generally portrayed as the embodiment of death. How is term pronounced?[ grim ree-per ]

Etymology

Origin of Grim Reaper

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Grim reaper has cashed my life-savings check/ Thy rocketh and thy pipeth restoreth me .

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.