court death
To act in a way perceived as inviting lethal consequences, especially by challenging…To act in a way perceived as inviting lethal consequences, especially by challenging someone more powerful.
» The male tarantula was courting with death.
Amastan · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
2 sensesTo act in a way perceived as inviting lethal consequences, especially by challenging someone more powerful.
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see court, death.
Examples
1 sentencesThe male tarantula was courting with death.
Origin
Calque of Chinese 找死 (zhǎosǐ).Calque of Chinese 找死 (zhǎosǐ).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
courts death, courting death, courted death, courted death| Base form | court death · to court death |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | courts death |
| Present participle | courting death |
| Past simple | courted death |
| Past participle | courted death |
irregular
Lessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.