pass away

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

pass away (third-person singular simple present passes away, present participle passing away, simple past and past participle passed away)

1. (euphemistic, idiomatic) To die.

   After a long battle with cancer, the professor passed away yesterday.

   • 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away.

2. (archaic, literary) To disappear; to cease to be; to be no more.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:

     Returne with ſpeed, time paſſeth ſwift away,
     Our life is fraile, and we may dye to day.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 21:4:

     And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

   • 1946 May and June, J. Alan Rannie, “The Midland of 35 Years Ago”, in Railway Magazine, page 200:

     Though the writer has striven to dwell on aspects that have passed, or are passing away, it will be apparent that many features of Midland practice have been adopted as standard for the L.M.S.R. and other railways.

3. (obsolete) To spend; to waste.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Wisdom of Sirach of Sirach-Chapter-42/#9 42:9:

     Lest she pass away the flower of her age.

Usage notes

Usually refers to death by natural causes or medical conditions.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:die

Translations

to die (euphemistic)

• Azerbaijani: rəhmətə getmək, dünyasını dəyişmək, vəfat etmək
• Bulgarian: умирам (bg) (umiram)
• Catalan: traspassar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 過身／过身 (gwo³ san¹)

  Mandarin: 去世 (zh) (qùshì), 逝世 (zh) (shìshì), 過世／过世 (zh) (guòshì)

• Danish: gå bort, sove ind
• Dutch: overlijden (nl), ontslapen (nl), heengaan (nl)
• Finnish: nukkua pois (fi)
• French: décéder (fr), s’éteindre (fr)
• German: entschlafen (de), versterben (de)
• Greek: ξεψυχώ (el) (xepsychó), αφήνω την τελευταία μου πνοή (afíno tin teleftaía mou pnoḯ)
• Hebrew: נִפְטַר (he) (niftár), הָלַךְ לְעוֹלָמוֹ (halákh l'olamó)
• Hungarian: elhuny (hu), örökre lehunyja a szemét (hu)
• Ido: pasar (io)
• Indonesian: meninggal dunia (id), wafat (id)
• Ingrian: saavva hukkaa
• Irish: imigh sall
• Italian: scomparire (it), mancare (it), venire a mancare
• Japanese: 逝く (ja) (iku, yuku), 亡くなる (ja) (nakunaru), 逝去する (ja) (seikyo suru)
• Korean: 돌아가시다 (ko) (doragasida)
• Latin: aborior, pereō
• Malagasy: maty (mg), maty (mg)
• Malay: meninggal dunia (ms)
• Malayalam: ഇഹലോകം വെടിയുക (ml) (ihalōkaṁ veṭiyuka), നിര്യാതനാകുക m (niryātanākuka)
• Mongolian: өнгөрөх (mn) (öngöröx), үхэх (mn) (üxex)
• Norman: pâsser l'pas
• Norwegian: gå bort
• Persian: فوت کردن (fa) (fowt kardan)
• Polish: odejść (pl)
• Portuguese: falecer (pt), ir-se (Brazil)
• Romanian: da duhul, sfârși (ro), muri (ro), deceda (ro), răposa (ro), înceta din viață (ro)
• Russian: сконча́ться (ru) pf (skončátʹsja), умере́ть (ru) pf (umerétʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: преминути pf

  Roman: preminuti (sh) pf

• Spanish: fallecer (es), dejarnos, finar (es)
• Swedish: gå bort (sv)
• Thai: เสียชีวิต (th) (sǐia-chii-wít)
• Turkish: göçmek (tr) (literally 'to migrate'), Hakk'ın rahmetine kavuşmak (tr) (literally 'to meet the grace of God'), vefat etmek (tr) (albeit not being a euphemism, archaic wording distances the occurrence of death from its unpleasantness), ruhunu teslim etmek (tr), ebediyete intikal etmek, vaktini doldurmak
• Tày: bấu mì
• Ukrainian: відійти́ у ві́чність (uk) pf (vidijtý u víčnistʹ)
• Vietnamese: qua đời (vi), (fall in battle:) từ trần (vi), viên tịch (vi)
• Welsh: huno (cy)