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To kick the bucket is an English idiom, considered a euphemistic, informal, or slang term meaning 'to die'.〔Oxford Advanced Dictionary of Current English, 4th Ed. (1989)〕 Its origin remains unclear, though there have been several theories. ==Origin theories== A common theory is that the idiom refers to hanging, either as a method of execution or suicide. However, there is no evidence to support this. Its earliest appearance is in the ''Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue'' (1785), where it is defined as 'to die'.〔 In John Badcock's slang dictionary of 1823, the explanation is given that "One Bolsover having hung himself from a beam while standing on a pail, or bucket, kicked this vessel away in order to pry into futurity and it was all UP with him from that moment: ''Finis''".〔''Slang: a dictionary of the turf, the ring, the chase, the pit, of bon-ton, and the varieties of life'', London 1823, (p.18 )〕 The theory favoured by the OED relates to the alternate definition of a bucket as a beam or yoke that can be used to hang or carry things on.〔〔"Bucket." ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. 2nd ed. 1989.〕 The "bucket" may refer to the beam on which slaughtered pigs are suspended. The animals may struggle on the bucket, hence the expression.〔 The word "bucket" still can be used today to refer to such a beam in the Norfolk dialect.〔''Oxford Dictionary of Idioms'', p. 159〕 It is thought that this definition came from the French word ''trébuchet'' or ''buque'', meaning balance.〔(The Phrase Finder )〕〔 William Shakespeare used the word in this sense in his play Henry IV Part II where he says:〔 A third theory suggests that the origin of the phrase comes from the Catholic custom of holy-water buckets:〔"Relics of Popery", Catholic Truth Society London〕 Alternatively, in the moment of death a person stretches his legs (in Spanish ''Estirar la pata'' means 'to die') and so might kick the bucket placed there. Yet another seeks to extend the saying beyond its earliest use in the 16th century with reference to the Latin proverb ''Capra Scyria'', the goat that is said to kick over the pail after being milked (920 in Erasmus' Adagia). Thus a promising beginning is followed by a bad ending or, as Andrea Alciato phrased it in the Latin poem accompanying the drawing in his ''Emblemata'' (1524), 'Because you have spoilt your fine beginnings with a shameful end and turned your service into harm, you have done what the she-goat does when she kicks the bucket that holds her milk and with her hoof squanders her own riches'.〔(Emblem 160 )〕 Here it is the death of one's reputation that is in question. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「kick the bucket」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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