deathbed

/ˈdɛθˌbɛd/

Etymology

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”).

Why this word is great

DEATHBED — [Noun] The bed on which someone dies, or the final hours before death. From Middle English dethbed, from Old English dēaþbedd ("deathbed; grave"), equivalent to death + bed. Cognate with Swedish dödsbädd ("deathbed"). Unlike "grave" (a silent, sunken terminus) or "sickbed" (a temporary station of suffering), the deathbed is a threshold—both furniture and fate. It is the sag of the mattress under failing limbs, the way the light slants differently through half-drawn curtains, the hushed voices that gather like moths at a dimming flame. A place where time thickens, and the ordinary becomes sacred.

noun

  1. The bed on which someone dies.“He was once on his way to an old woman, who was on her death-bed and who had led a wicked life.”
  2. The last hours before death.
  3. A grave; the site of a burial or entombment.““Will you ask our oldest warriors to build me a barrow? Ask them to climb this headland and build me a death pile high on its top. Let my deathbed rise high above Hronesnesse.””