Dictionary

Grim Reaper en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈɡɹɪm ˈɹiː.pə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈɡɹɪm ˈɹi.pɚ/ (US)

Etymology

From grim + reaper, first attested 1847. The word grim previously had a stronger meaning ("fierce, angry, sinister") and had more of an association with ghostliness (compare Old English grima (“specter, apparition”), English grim (n.)). The association between grim and death dates back to at least the late 16th century (the line "grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image" appears in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew around 1590). The reaper element comes from the personification of Death as a reaper (harvester) of souls in connection to the popular depiction of Death wielding a scythe. The symbol of the scythe itself comes from a partially unintentional conflation of Cronus (the Titan associated with the harvest, said to have used his scythe to castrate his father Uranus) and Chronos (the personification of Father Time).

Meanings

1. A personification of Death as an old man, or a skeleton, carrying a scythe, taking souls to the afterlife.
   • But that is the likely outcome if the railway waits for Treasury's grim reaper to come a-calling. 2021 January 13, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Make freight an equal priority”, in Rail, page 3:
   • Her husband was dead, and Werper fancied that he could replace in the girl’s heart the position which had been vacated by the act of the grim reaper. 1916, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar:
   • On the one hand, we had a scenario where, effectively, the American admiral just went "You know what, all the destroyers attack", at which point they mowed through the Japanese destroyers like a Grim Reaper through a harvest of very, very dead gorn, especially with the Brooklyns in support. 2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!, archived from the original on 04 Jul 2022:
   • "Golly, I feel like the devil!" muttered Anthony dispassionately. Relaxing, he tumbled back upon his pillow. "Bring on your grim reaper!" 1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 2, page 220:
   • Mary, will you be mine? Shall we go round together? Will you fix up a match with me on the links of life which shall end only when the Grim Reaper lays us both a stymie? 1922, P. G. Wodehouse, The Clicking of Cuthbert:

Forms

Deriveds

Grim Reaper paradox

Relateds

shinigami · like grim death · Father Time

Synonyms

reaper (personification of death) · angel of death (personification of death) · pale rider (personification of death) · rider (personification of death) · psychopomp (personification of death) · Azrael (personification of death) · Death (personification of death) · Shinigami (personification of death) · death (personification of death)

Translations (95)

pl śmiertka (personification of Death) · cs smrtka (personification of Death) · pt anjo da morte (personification of Death) · ro înger al morții (personification of Death) · fi viikatemies (personification of Death) · es descarnada (personification of Death) · nl Pietje de Dood (personification of Death) · kk ажал (personification of Death) · sh Смрт (personification of Death) · tr Azrail (personification of Death) · ru а́нгел сме́рти (personification of Death) · sk smrťka (personification of Death) · cy yr Angau (personification of Death) · es calaca (Mesoamerica) (personification of Death) · wa Fåtcheuse (personification of Death) · eo Falĉilulo (personification of Death) · srn Fedi (personification of Death) · es parca (personification of Death) · el άγγελος θανάτου (personification of Death) · hu halál angyala (personification of Death) · tl Kamatayan (personification of Death) · pl kostucha (personification of Death) · ru костля́вая (personification of Death) · ko 저승사자 (personification of Death) · de Todesengel (personification of Death) · ja 死神 (personification of Death) · pt Morte (personification of Death) · ckb گیانکێش (personification of Death) · pt Ceifador (personification of Death) · el χάρος (personification of Death) · hu kaszás (personification of Death) · tr ölüm meleği (personification of Death) · szl śmjertka (personification of Death) · sh Smrt (personification of Death) · srn Akama-yaw (personification of Death) · nl engel des doods (personification of Death) · it angelo della morte (personification of Death) · it Cupo Mietitore (personification of Death) · ar حِفَاف الْأَرْوَاح (personification of Death) · id Malaikat Maut (personification of Death) · sk smrť (personification of Death) · th ยมทูต (personification of Death) · bg а́нгел на смъртта́ (personification of Death) · nn mannen med ljåen (personification of Death) · da manden med leen (personification of Death) · ru смерть (personification of Death) · nb mannen med ljåen (personification of Death) · hu a halál megszemélyesített formája (personification of Death) · af skoppensboer (personification of Death) · ko 사신 (personification of Death) · ga Bás (personification of Death) · es muerte (personification of Death) · es ángel del la muerte (personification of Death) · sv dödsängel (personification of Death) · de Gevatter Tod (personification of Death) · es huesuda (personification of Death) · vi thần chết (personification of Death) · it Tristo Mietitore (personification of Death) · de Sensenmann (personification of Death) · nl Magere Hein (personification of Death) · de Freund Hein (personification of Death) · de Schlafes Bruder (personification of Death) · it Sinistro Mietitore (personification of Death) · is engill dauðans (personification of Death) · ru Азраи́л (personification of Death) · sk zubatá (personification of Death) · kmr Canstîn (personification of Death) · ckb پێمێرد (personification of Death) · fr Mort (personification of Death) · fr ange de la mort (personification of Death) · wa Laid Wåtî (personification of Death) · el ανθρωποθεριστής (personification of Death) · he מַלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת (personification of Death) · kk өлім періштесі (personification of Death) · fr Grande Faucheuse (personification of Death) · cy y Medelwr mawr (personification of Death) · kmr melkemot (personification of Death) · cmn 死神 (personification of Death) · ckb مەڵکەمووت (personification of Death) · pl Ponury Żniwiarz (personification of Death) · wa Noere Mayane (personification of Death) · vi tử thần (personification of Death) · es pelona (personification of Death) · eo Mortulo (personification of Death) · kmr Ruhstîn (personification of Death) · cs smrťák (personification of Death) · nl zeisenman (personification of Death) · is maðurinn með ljáinn (personification of Death) · et vikatimees (personification of Death) · de Quiqui (personification of Death) · sv liemannen (personification of Death) · es quirina (personification of Death) · eu Herio (personification of Death) · fr Faucheuse (personification of Death) · de Schnitter (personification of Death)

wikipedia: Cronus · wikipedia: Chronos · wikipedia: Uranus_(mythology) · wikipedia: The Taming of the Shrew