kick the bucket

Cultural  

1. To die: “Scarcely anyone was sorry when the old tyrant finally kicked the bucket.”

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kick the bucket Idioms  

1. Die, as in All of my goldfish kicked the bucket while we were on vacation. This moderately impolite usage has a disputed origin. Some say it refers to committing suicide by hanging, in which one stands on a bucket, fastens a rope around one's neck, and kicks the bucket away. A more likely origin is the use of bucket in the sense of “a beam from which something may be suspended” because pigs were suspended by their heels from such beams after being slaughtered, the term kick the bucket came to mean “to die.” [Colloquial; late 1700s]

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Example Sentences

Technicalities aside: It’s insurance for when you kick the bucket.

From Salon

“We heard the old one kicked the bucket.”

From Literature

After his surgery, my husband called his son, who said, “I guess you didn’t kick the bucket.”

From MarketWatch

For many in the crowd, it will be an item on their bucket list — that is, something they’ve convinced themselves they have to do before they kick the bucket.

From MarketWatch

Madame Ionesco swung her legs until they kicked the bucket, so to speak.

From Literature