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.”

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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.”

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Example Sentences

Citing inflationary pressures and slumping enrollment, Cazenovia College in central New York will close at the end of the school year, making it among the latest to bite the dust.

From Washington Times • Apr. 5, 2023

Seeing that and other jobs bite the dust was "so disappointing", she says.

From BBC • Mar. 7, 2021

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

"He had to bite the dust pretty early," the other sighed.

From The Indian Lily and Other Stories by Lewisohn, Ludwig