give up the ghost

Literally, to release one's spirit or soul from the body at death. From Middle English "gaf up þe gost", "ʒave up þe gost", from Old English phrases as "hēo āġeaf hire gāst" (literally, "she gave up her ghost [spirit]"), "þæt iċ gāst mīnne āġifan mōte" (literally, "that I must give up my ghost [spirit]"). Compare German den Geist aufgeben and Dutch de geest geven. Perhaps most notable and survived in modern English for being used in traditional translation during the death of Jesus during His crucifixion: The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Matthew 27:50: “¶ Iesus, when hee had cried againe with a loud voice, yeelded vp the ghost.”

• "And Ieſus cryed with a loude voice, and gaue vp the ghoſt."
• "My old computer finally gave up the ghost the other day."
• "We've got a problem. A big one. The controller chip for our water purification system has given up the ghost. We can't make another one and the process is too complicated for a work-around system. Simply put, we're running out of drinking water. No water, no Vault."

• yield up the ghost
• yield the ghost
• assume room temperature
• auger in
• be called home
• be gathered to one's fathers
• be like the the One
• be no more
• be with Jesus
• be with the Lord
• bite the big one
• bite the biscuit
• bite the dust
• buy the farm
• buy it
• cark it
• cash in
• cash in one's chips
• check out
• close one's eyes for the last time
• code
• conk out
• croak
• cross over
• cross rainbow bridge
• cross the Great Divide
• cross the Styx
• darken
• decease
• decompose
• dematerialize
• depart
• disincarnate
• draw one's last breath
• drop off the hooks
• exit
• expire
• flatline
• forfare
• give one's all
• give up the ghost
• go for a burton
• go gentle into that good night
• go out
• go over to the majority
• go the way of all flesh
• go the way of the dinosaurs
• go the way of the dodo
• go the way of the dodo bird
• go to glory
• go to one's reward
• go west
• hand in one's checks
• hand in one's dinner pail
• hop the twig
• join the choir invisible
• keel over
• kick the bucket
• kick off
• knock off
• liquidate
• lose my life for Jesus Christ
• lose the number of one's mess
• meet one's doom
• meet one's end
• meet one's maker
• pass
• pass away
• pass in one's checks
• pass in one's marble
• pass on
• pass over
• pass the river
• pay nature's debt
• pay the debt of nature
• peg out
• perish
• pop off
• pop one's clogs
• shuffle off this mortal coil
• sink
• sleep with one's fathers
• slip away
• snuff it
• succumb
• take a dirt nap
• turn up one's toes
• yield up the ghost

• draw one's last breath
• give up