wake up dead

wake up dead (third-person singular simple present wakes up dead, present participle waking up dead, simple past woke up dead, past participle woken up dead)

1. To die, particularly in one's sleep.
   • 1988, Mike Nichols, Life and Other Ways to Kill Time, page 206:

     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.

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

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

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

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

   • 2013, Don Pendleton, Extraction, page 70:

     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.

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

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