kick the bucketとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

There are many theories as to where this idiom comes from, but the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) suggests the following:

• A person standing on a pail or bucket with their head in a slip noose would kick the bucket so as to commit suicide. The OED, however, says that this is mainly speculative;
• An archaic use of bucket was a beam from which a pig is hung by its feet prior to being slaughtered, and to kick the bucket originally signified the pig's death throes. The OED finds this a more plausible theory.

Another theory is given by Roman Catholic Bishop Abbot Horne.^[1]

発音

• (Received 発音, 米国発音) IPA^(key): /ˈkɪk ðə ˈbʌkɪt/

動詞

kick the bucket (三人称単数 現在形 kicks the bucket, 現在分詞 kicking the bucket, 過去形および過去分詞形 kicked the bucket)

1. (idiomatic, euphemistic, colloquial, humorous) To die.

   Synonyms: bite the dust, buy the farm; see also Thesaurus:die

   The old horse finally kicked the bucket.

   • 2015 April 22, Sam Jordison, quoting Jan Morris, “Jan Morris talks about Venice”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     My posthumous book Allegorizings, which will go to press in London and New York the minute I kick the bucket, is loosely governed by my growing conviction that almost nothing in life is only what it seems. It contains nothing revelatory at all.

2. (idiomatic, colloquial, of a machine) To break down such that it cannot be repaired.

   I think my sewing machine has kicked the bucket.

参照