wooden kimono

plural wooden kimonos

1. USslangSynonym of coffin.

   "And you're just about ready to give up the ghost and call for a wooden kimono."

   1935, Capt. Billy's Whiz-Bang Winter Annual, back cover

   2 more examples

   I expected the man to show up any minute with his tape measure to outfit me with a wooden kimono.

   1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Not too Far Tangent”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 19

   "The wooden kimono was all ready to drop in San Francisco Bay, but now he's mumbling something all about the one that got away."

   1976, Tom Waits, Small Change, Asylum Records, 1976, Track #10

   Synonyms: coffin