bite the dust

Cultural  

1. Literally, to fall face down in the dirt; to suffer a defeat: “Once again, the champion wins, and another contender bites the dust.”

---

bite the dust Idioms  

1. Suffer defeat or death, as in The 1990 election saw both of our senators bite the dust. Although this expression was popularized by American Western films of the 1930s, in which either cowboys or Indians were thrown from their horses to the dusty ground, it originated much earlier. Tobias Smollett had it in Gil Blas (1750): “We made two of them bite the dust.”

---

Example Sentences

We don’t see Tyene bite the dust on-screen, but I can’t imagine Benioff and Weiss suddenly deciding she’s worth the narrative investment to have her wriggle out of this.

From The Verge • Jul. 31, 2017

First to bite the dust was Baz Luhrmann’s hip-hop fantasia The Get Down.

From The Guardian • Jul. 24, 2017

I also suspect “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” is going to bite the dust this year; the topicality of its red-hot first season just isn’t there.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 9, 2017

That’s the sickening thud Becca Pizzi says runners make when they’re out training for the Boston Marathon and bite the dust.

From Washington Times • Mar. 3, 2015

Oh, no, Miss Edgburn; no, I shan’t dance circles nor put my fingers into my nose, nor bite the dust and die.

From Cleek of Scotland Yard Detective Stories by Hanshew, Thomas W.