pass the river en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
Allusion to the crossing of the river Styx, the boundary between life and Hades, in Classical Greek mythology.
Meanings
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(euphemistic, idiomatic) To die.
To the beautiful memory of Kenneth Grahame, husband of Elspeth and father of Alastair, who passed the river on the 6th of July, 1932, leaving childhood and literature through him the more blest for all time.
1991, Anthony Hope, edited by Humphrey Carpenter and Mari Prichard, The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pages 216–219:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| passing the river | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| passes the river | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| passed the river | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| passed the river | Tense=Past | lexicographic |