sit on death's doorstep

present singular third person sits on death's doorstep · participle present sitting on death's doorstep · participle past sat on death's doorstep · past sat on death's doorstep

1. To be on the brink of death; to be almost dead.

   You can sit on death's doorstep, And rest your weary bones.

   1982, Lyrical Iowa, page 109

   3 more examples

   From the Otherworld she hopes, as a shaman, to retrieve the soul of her dead or dying intended husband, who sits on Death's doorstep.

   2002, Dissertation Abstracts International, page 3778

   Even when I had an excellent diet, within 5 years of drinking Ocean Spray juices, sodas, Gatorade and sugar sweetened tea every day, I had blown out my kidneys and was sitting on death's doorstep.

   2015, Terry Cooksey, The Cure For All Disease

   The soldiers, officers, and priests all devoted considerable time and effort to nursing the ill men back to health, but too many of them still sat on death's doorstep.

   2020, Rick Walker, Calafia: The Untold Story of California's Beginnings