Kick the Bucket
What it means
Die, said lightly enough that it is usually about someone you were not close to.
Where it comes from
The hanging story is doubtful. One suggestion is an old sense of bucket meaning the beam a slaughtered pig was hung from, but nothing proves it, and the phrase was already slang by the 1780s.
The puzzle it came from
Kick the Bucket was the answer to the Phrasicle of May 7, 2025. The clue read ____ the ____, and the words came out of a grid where every neighbouring pair makes a two-word phrase.
Play today's Phrasicle Play the May 7, 2025 puzzle
Show the solved grid (this spoils the May 7, 2025 puzzle)
bubble
gum
drop
kick
back
farm
fresh
air
head
ache
black
ice
bucket
list
price
tooth
fairy
dust
ball
room
Phrasicle: Kick the Bucket