dice with death

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.

See also: death, dice

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

dice with death

BRITISH

If 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.

See also: death, dice

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.

See also: death, dice

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.

See also: death, dice

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017