wake up dead

present singular third person wakes up dead · participle present waking up dead · past woke up dead · participle past woken up dead

1. To die, particularly in one's sleep.

   But if tomorrow morning you wake up dead, don't blame me!

   1999, Dean Barrett, Hangman's Point, section 495

   4 more examples

   The most maddening aspect of time, of course, is how it passes -sneaky fast - moment into moment into millennium, each day a dollop of eternity until, finally, one morning you wake up dead.

   1988, Mike Nichols, Life and Other Ways to Kill Time, page 206

   Find strength, before your^([sic]) broken down from thoughts that burn away the mind. One day you'll wake up dead.

   2011, John Orsi, From An Ill Mind, page 43

   All the sentiment in the world won't be much of a comfort when people like Hal Brognola find out what you've been doing—and they will find out, you know that—and you wake up dead one morning.

   2013, Don Pendleton, Extraction, page 70

   Cross her and you'll wake up dead once you get back to the station.

   2018, Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner, Unearthed, page 12