die a thousand deaths

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die a thousand deaths (third-person singular simple present dies a thousand deaths, present participle dying a thousand deaths, simple past and past participle died a thousand deaths)

1. (rhetorical) To die many times over (usually as preferred over some other undesirable action or occurrence).
   • 1594 (first publication), Christopher Marlow[e], The Trovblesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edvvard the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     Mor[timer] iu[nior]. Crie quittance Madam then, & loue not him. / Qu[een]. No, rather will I die a thousand deaths, / And yet I loue in vaine, heele nere loue me.

   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     And I, most jocund, apt and willingly, / To do you rest, a thousand deaths would die.

   • 1764, “Onuphrio Muralto”, chapter IV, in William Marshal [pseudonym; Horace Walpole], transl., The Castle of Otranto, […], Dublin: […] J. Hoey, […], published 1765, →OCLC, page 150:

     [T]rust me, believe me, I will die a thousand deaths sooner than consent to injure you […]

   • 1864, John Bell Hood, letter to William Tecumseh Sherman dated 12 September, 1864, cited in Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, London: Henry S. King & Co., Volume 2, Chapter 18, Capture of Atlanta, p. 124,

     Better die a thousand deaths than submit to live under you or your Government and your negro allies!

2. (idiomatic) To suffer repeatedly (often mentally rather than physically); to suffer extreme embarrassment or anxiety.
   • 1735, Alexander Pope, “A letter from a nun in Portugal to a gentleman in France” in Mr. Pope’s Literary Correspondence, Volume 3, London: E. Curll, p. 89,

     […] since I know no greater Pleasure than the Love of you, I should too willingly run the Risque of any Disadvantage that could happen by it. I die a thousand Deaths every Hour, and still revive, to die them over again […]

   • 1884, Edward Greey and Shiuichiro Saito (translators), The Loyal Ronins by Tamenaga Shunsui, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, Chapter 12, p. 81,

     […] his enormous wealth yielded him no happiness, his suspicious soul feared a traitoress in each of his beautiful attendants, he trusted no one but his chief-councillor, Sir Small-grove, and while waiting for the just retribution he knew must sooner or later follow his crime, died a thousand deaths.

   • 1961, Dominic Behan, Tell Dublin I Miss Her, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Chapter Eight, p. 79,

     As she looked in the mirror over the fireplace that she might settle her hat-pin straight, she noticed that in touching the china dog she had disturbed the mantle cloth, and in so doing had exposed her hoard of pawn-tickets. Thanks be to God I noticed that, had anyone come in I’d have died a thousand deaths.