dice with death
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dice with death
To do something very risky or dangerous. Of course he's taking out his motorcycle in the pouring rain—he's always dicing with death.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
dice with death
BRITISHIf someone dices with death, they take risks that put their lives in danger. Fishermen are constantly dicing with death. I dice with death almost every night crossing the road outside Maidstone Barracks station. Note: To dice means to play dice, or to gamble.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
dice with death
take serious risks.Dice with is used here in the general sense of ‘play a game of chance with’. In the mid 20th century dice with death was a journalistic cliché used to convey the risks taken by racing drivers; the expression seems for some time to have been especially connected with motoring, although it is now used of other risky activities. It gave rise to the use of dicing as a slang word among drivers for ‘driving in a race’, and it can be compared with dicey meaning ‘dangerous’, a word which originated in 1950s air-force slang.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
ˌdice with ˈdeath
(informal) risk your life by doing something very dangerous: Racing drivers dice with death every time they race. Dice means play dice or gamble.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017