deathbed

UK/ˈdɛθˌbɛd/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,314 of 15,258neutral

A deathbed is the bed a person dies in. On his deathbed, a deathbed confession, a deathbed conversion.

It appears almost only in fixed phrases about last moments: a deathbed confession, a deathbed promise, a deathbed conversion. In law a statement made when somebody knows they are dying is admissible in some cases where hearsay otherwise would not be.

Definitions of deathbed

1noundeathbedThe bed a person dies in.B2+
“On his deathbed, the old man asked his sons to forgive each other.”

deathbed is a bed.

Where it comes from

Old English deathbedd, death plus bed. It once meant a grave as well as a bed.

Old English
dēaþbedd — deathbed; grave
Middle English
dethbed
English, today
deathbed

From Middle English dethbed, from Old English dēaþbedd (“deathbed; grave”), equivalent to death + bed. Cognate with Swedish dödsbädd (“deathbed”). Compare also Dutch sterfbed (“deathbed”), German Sterbebett and Totenbett (both “deathbed”), Danish dødsleje (“deathbed”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

deathbed in the wild

Claims of the deathbed conversion of famous or influential figures have also been used in history as rhetorical devices.
Deathbed conversion
A deathbed is a place where a person dies or lies during the last few hours before death.
Deathbed
A deathbed confession is confession made by a person when they are nearing death.
Deathbed confession
Like other types of confessions, some deathbed confessions are false confessions.
Deathbed confession
Modern scientists consider deathbed phenomena and visions to be hallucinations.
Deathbed phenomena

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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