Meanings
grim reaper1
plural grim reapers
- Alternative letter-case form of Grim Reaper.
Grim Reaper2
plural Grim Reapers · alternative grim reaper
- A personification of Death as an old man, or a skeleton, carrying a scythe, taking souls to the afterlife.
But that is the likely outcome if the railway waits for Treasury's grim reaper to come a-calling.
2021 January 13, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Make freight an equal priority”, in Rail, page 34 more examples
Her husband was dead, and Werper fancied that he could replace in the girl’s heart the position which had been vacated by the act of the grim reaper.
1916, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar"Golly, I feel like the devil!" muttered Anthony dispassionately. Relaxing, he tumbled back upon his pillow. "Bring on your grim reaper!"
1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 2, page 220Mary, will you be mine? Shall we go round together? Will you fix up a match with me on the links of life which shall end only when the Grim Reaper lays us both a stymie?
1922, P. G. Wodehouse, The Clicking of CuthbertOn the one hand, we had a scenario where, effectively, the American admiral just went "You know what, all the destroyers attack", at which point they mowed through the Japanese destroyers like a Grim Reaper through a harvest of very, very dead gorn, especially with the Brooklyns in support.
2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!, archived from the original on 04 Jul 2022Synonyms: reaper, Azrael, death, Death, pale rider, rider, angel of death, Shinigami
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA personification of Death as an old man, or a skeleton, carrying a scythe, taking souls to the afterlife.
Origin
From grim + reaper, first attested 1847. The word grim previously had a stronger meaning ("fierce, angry, sinister") and had more of an association with ghostliness (compare Old English grima (“specter, apparition”), English grim (n.)). The association between grim and death dates back to at least the late 16th century (the line "grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image" appears in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew around 1590). The reaper element comes from the personification of Death as a reaper (harvester) of souls in connection to the popular depiction of Death wielding a scythe. The symbol of the scythe itself comes from a partially unintentional conflation of Cronus (the Titan associated with the harvest, said to have used his scythe to castrate his father Uranus) and Chronos (the personification of Father Time).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans skoppensboer
- skoppensboerpersonification of Death
Arabic حِفَاف الْأَرْوَاح
- حِفَاف الْأَرْوَاح (ḥifāf al-ʔarwāḥ)personification of Death
Basque Herio
- Heriopersonification of Death
Bulgarian а́нгел на смъртта́
- а́нгел на смъртта́ (ángel na smărttá)personification of Death
Chinese Mandarin 死神
- 死神 (sǐshén)personification of Death
Czech smrtka, smrťák
- smrtkapersonification of Death
- smrťákpersonification of Death
Danish manden med leen
- manden med leenpersonification of Death
Dutch Magere Hein, Pietje de Dood
- Magere Heinpersonification of Death
- Pietje de Doodpersonification of Death
- engel des doodspersonification of Death
- zeisenmanpersonification of Death
Esperanto Falĉilulo, Mortulo
- Falĉilulopersonification of Death
- Mortulopersonification of Death
Estonian vikatimees
- vikatimeespersonification of Death
Finnish viikatemies
- viikatemiespersonification of Death
French Faucheuse, Mort
- Faucheusepersonification of Death
- Mortpersonification of Death
- Grande Faucheusepersonification of Death
- ange de la mortpersonification of Death
German Gevatter Tod, Sensenmann
- Gevatter Todpersonification of Death
- Sensenmannpersonification of Death
- Schnitterpersonification of Death
- Todesengelpersonification of Death
- Quiquipersonification of Death
- Freund Heinpersonification of Death
- Schlafes Bruderpersonification of Death
Greek χάρος, άγγελος θανάτου
- χάρος (cháros)personification of Death
- άγγελος θανάτου (ángelos thanátou)personification of Death
- ανθρωποθεριστής (anthropotheristís)personification of Death
Hebrew מַלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת
- מַלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת (mal'ákh hamávet)personification of Death
Hungarian kaszás, halál angyala
- kaszáspersonification of Death
- halál angyalapersonification of Death
- a halál megszemélyesített formájapersonification of Death
Icelandic maðurinn með ljáinn, engill dauðans
- maðurinn með ljáinnpersonification of Death
- engill dauðanspersonification of Death
Indonesian Malaikat Maut
- Malaikat Mautpersonification of Death
Irish Bás
- Báspersonification of Death
Italian Tristo Mietitore, Cupo Mietitore
- Tristo Mietitorepersonification of Death
- Cupo Mietitorepersonification of Death
- Sinistro Mietitorepersonification of Death
- angelo della mortepersonification of Death
Japanese 死神
- 死神 (shinigami)personification of Death
Korean 사신, 저승사자
- 사신 (sasin)personification of Death
- 저승사자 (jeoseungsaja)personification of Death
Norwegian Bokmål mannen med ljåen
- mannen med ljåenpersonification of Death
Polish Ponury Żniwiarz, kostucha
- Ponury Żniwiarzpersonification of Death
- kostuchapersonification of Death
- śmiertkapersonification of Death
Portuguese Morte, Ceifador
- Mortepersonification of Death
- Ceifadorpersonification of Death
- anjo da mortepersonification of Death
Romanian înger al morții
- înger al morțiipersonification of Death
Russian смерть, костля́вая
- смертьpersonification of Death
- костля́вая (kostljávaja)personification of Death
- а́нгел сме́рти (ángel smérti)personification of Death
- Азраи́л (Azraíl)personification of Death
Slovak smrťka, smrť
- smrťkapersonification of Death
- smrťpersonification of Death
- zubatápersonification of Death
Spanish parca, muerte
- parcapersonification of Death
- muertepersonification of Death
- ángel del la muertepersonification of Death
- descarnadapersonification of Death
- pelonapersonification of Death
- huesudapersonification of Death
- quirinapersonification of Death
- calaca (Mesoamerica)personification of Death
Swedish liemannen, dödsängel
- liemannenpersonification of Death
- dödsängelpersonification of Death
Tagalog Kamatayan
- Kamatayanpersonification of Death
Thai ยมทูต
- ยมทูต (yom-má-tûut)personification of Death
Turkish Azrail, ölüm meleği
- Azrailpersonification of Death
- ölüm meleğipersonification of Death
Vietnamese tử thần, thần chết
- tử thầnpersonification of Death
- thần chếtpersonification of Death
Welsh yr Angau, y Medelwr mawr
- yr Angaupersonification of Death
- y Medelwr mawrpersonification of Death
Cite this entry
grim reaper. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grim%20reaper
“grim reaper.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grim%20reaper. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “grim reaper,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grim%20reaper.
Source: grim reaper on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.