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The Collaborative International Dictionary
To die in the last ditch

Die \Die\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Died; p. pr. & vb. n. Dying.] [OE. deyen, dien, of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. deyja; akin to Dan. d["o]e, Sw. d["o], Goth. diwan (cf. Goth. afd?jan to harass), OFries. d?ia to kill, OS. doian to die, OHG. touwen, OSlav. daviti to choke, Lith. dovyti to torment. Cf. Dead, Death.]

  1. To pass from an animate to a lifeless state; to cease to live; to suffer a total and irreparable loss of action of the vital functions; to become dead; to expire; to perish; -- said of animals and vegetables; often with of, by, with, from, and rarely for, before the cause or occasion of death; as, to die of disease or hardships; to die by fire or the sword; to die with horror at the thought.

    To die by the roadside of grief and hunger.
    --Macaulay.

    She will die from want of care.
    --Tennyson.

  2. To suffer death; to lose life.

    In due time Christ died for the ungodly.
    --Rom. v. 6.

  3. To perish in any manner; to cease; to become lost or extinct; to be extinguished.

    Letting the secret die within his own breast.
    --Spectator.

    Great deeds can not die.
    --Tennyson.

  4. To sink; to faint; to pine; to languish, with weakness, discouragement, love, etc.

    His heart died within, and he became as a stone.
    --1 Sam. xxv. 37.

    The young men acknowledged, in love letters, that they died for Rebecca.
    --Tatler.

  5. To become indifferent; to cease to be subject; as, to die to pleasure or to sin.

  6. To recede and grow fainter; to become imperceptible; to vanish; -- often with out or away.

    Blemishes may die away and disappear amidst the brightness.
    --Spectator.

  7. (Arch.) To disappear gradually in another surface, as where moldings are lost in a sloped or curved face.

  8. To become vapid, flat, or spiritless, as liquor.

    To die in the last ditch, to fight till death; to die rather than surrender.

    ``There is one certain way,'' replied the Prince [William of Orange] `` by which I can be sure never to see my country's ruin, -- I will die in the last ditch.''
    --Hume (Hist. of Eng. ).

    To die out, to cease gradually; as, the prejudice has died out.

    Syn: To expire; decease; perish; depart; vanish.

Usage examples of "to die in the last ditch".

It was his duty to fight to the bitter end, to keep occupied as many of the enemy as possible for as long as possible, and to die in the last ditch, if necessary, while the real decision was being fought out in France.