Kick the bucket
"To die."
The most commonly repeated explanation, someone kicking away a bucket they were standing on to hang themselves, has no solid historical backing as the phrase's actual origin. A more credible theory, favoured by Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, points to an old regional (East Anglian) use of "bucket" for the wooden beam or yoke from which slaughtered pigs were hung up by their feet. The animal's death spasms would cause it to visibly "kick the bucket." Either way, the phrase is recorded from the 1700s, well documented in general use, even if the precise picture behind it isn't settled.
Myth vs. FactThe 'suicide by kicking away a bucket' story is treated as obvious fact by a lot of people, but it's folklore rather than documented history. The slaughterhouse-beam theory has more circumstantial support, though it too isn't proven beyond doubt.
Sources: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, entry for 'kick the bucket'; earliest print citations from the 18th century.
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