on death's doorstep

English

Etymology

Probably a shortening of the phrasal verb sit on death's doorstep.

Phrase

on death's doorstep

  1. Almost dead.
    • 2017, Anat Rosenthal, Health on Delivery:
      By the time she decided to seek help from a Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) center near her village, she was on death's doorstep: dizzy and unable to walk, much less work.
    • 2018, Leila Sales, If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say:
      But in my family, you follow through on your commitments and show up at school or work unless you are on death's doorstep. But maybe I was on death's doorstep, because Mom and I didn't even discuss the idea of my leaving the house.
    • 2020, Peter J. Adams, Reflecting on the Inevitable, page 218:
      Look, we all know that some of the things that we do will put us on death's doorstep one day.
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