death match

[ deth-mach ]

noun

Professional Wrestling. a type of wrestling match in which dangerous objects such as nail-studded props, glass, and barbed wire are allowed in a graphically brutal and bloody spectacle.
a genre of multiplayer video game in which a player’s goal is to kill or otherwise eliminate opponents’ player characters from the match.

a literal or metaphorical fight to the death in which a combatant becomes the victor by eliminating one or more enemies: The slasher film Freddy vs. Jason pits the two horror icons against each other in a gory death match. In a pizza topping death match, who would win—classic pepperoni or exotic pineapple?

Origin of death match

First recorded in 1955–60 for def. 1, in 1970–75 for def. 3, and in 1990–95 for def. 2

It pains me to say this, in the year 2014, we are in a death match.
Gaza, You're No Good For My Marriage | Josh Robin | August 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
That is, if you ask Literary death match founder Adrian Todd Zuniga.
A Reality TV Competition About Reading? Literary Death Match Wants a Show | Melissa Goldstein | December 13, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Literary death match, a reading competition judged by novelists, actors, comedians, and musicians, has just taped a pilot.
A Reality TV Competition About Reading? Literary Death Match Wants a Show | Melissa Goldstein | December 13, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Krugman plays his part in this death match, seeing all who disagree as tools of capital and instruments of greed.
Paul Krugman’s Dismissal of Structural Causes for U.S. Employment Problem Is Misguided | Zachary Karabell | May 14, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
She's fighting to the bookish death at the Literary death match in NYC on June 25.
Washington’s Fatherless Elite | Lisa Carver | June 20, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST

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