TO BE DEATH ON, verb. phr. (common).—Very fond of, or thoroughly master of—a metaphor of completeness; the same as DEAD ON, A MARK ON, or SOME PUMPKINS ON. Cf., NUTS ON. [Literally to prosecute or pursue any course of action to the death.]
TO DRESS TO DEATH (colloquial).—To attire oneself in the very extreme of fashion. In America TO DRESS WITHIN AN INCH OF ONE’S LIFE; TO DRESS UP DRUNK and TO DRESS TO KILL. An old Cornish proverb has DRESSED TO DEATH LIKE SALLY HATCH (Notes and Queries, 3 ser., vi., 6). [Apparently a pun on KILLING (q.v.).]
1869. Newfoundland Fisheries [quoted in de Vere]. The next day I met Davis and Nye, my two chums, on board the Little Rhody, DRESSED TO DEATH and trunk empty, as they said of themselves.
