deathblow

[ deth-bloh ]

/ ˈdɛθˌbloʊ /

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noun

Nearby words

death's-head moth, death, be not proud, death-dealing, death-valley curve, deathbed, deathblow, deathday, deathful, deathless, deathlike, deathly

Origin of deathblow

First recorded in 1785–95; death + blow¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for deathblow

The soldier implored Usama for amnesty just as Usama prepared to deliver the deathblow.
Prophet Muhammad’s Rules of War|Qasim Rashid|November 20, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Taken together, this legal wrangling could be a deathblow to the company that once ruled the Internet.
Antitrust Suit Could Bring Down Google|Dan Lyons|April 27, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Then alighting on a rock and holding by a projection, he gave the monster his deathblow.
The Classic Myths in English Literature and in Art (2nd ed.) (1911)|Charles Mills Gayley
It goes on living and working when science has dealt it what should be its deathblow.
The Strength of Gideon and Other Stories|Paul Laurence Dunbar

And he got his deathblow on the slope of that same Capitol where Gracchus and Manlius had died before him, each in good cause.
Ave Roma Immortalis, Vol. 2|Francis Marion Crawford
As the lightning from a clear sky, so was the deathblow given to the pride and strength of the quinquereme.
Ulric the Jarl|William O. Stoddard
But, peace restored, and the deathblow given to treason, the work of reform will commence.
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 2, August, 1863|Various

British Dictionary definitions for deathblow

deathblow

/ (ˈdɛθˌbləʊ) /

noun

a thing or event that destroys life or hope, esp suddenly

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012