Word Confusion: Dyeing versus Dying

Wait, you have to dye some fabric before you can see me? Or, you have to change colors to see me?

I can’t wait. I can barely stand it.

Ooh, pretty! What colors?

That’s so sad.

Plural for the noun: dyes
Gerund: dyeing

Third person present verb: dyes
Past tense or past participle: dyed
Present participle: dyeing

Plural for the noun:

• dies (device used for cutting, stamping, forming)
• dice (small cubes used for gambling)

Gerund: dying

Third person present verb: dies
Past tense or past participle: died
Present participle: dying

Verb, intransitive:
To impart color, as a dye ²

To become colored or absorb color when treated with a dye

Verb, transitive:
To color or stain ²

• Treat with a dye
• Color cloth, hair, etc., with a substance containing coloring matter

To impart color by means of a dye

• Approaching death
• Expiring

Of, pertaining to, or associated with death

Given, uttered, or manifested just before death

Drawing to a close

• Ending

Noun:
The act or process of ceasing to live, ending, or drawing to a close ¹

Verb, intransitive:
To cease to live ²

• Undergo the complete and permanent cessation of all vital functions
• Become dead

[Of something inanimate] To cease to exist

To lose force, strength, or active qualities

To cease to function

• Stop

To be no longer subject

• Become indifferent

To pass gradually

• Fade or subside gradually (usually followed by away, out, or down)

[Theology] To lose spiritual life

There’s still dyeing to be done.

“The dyeing then proceeds; and whatever is dyed in this manner becomes a fast colour, and no washing either with lyes or without them can take away the bloom” (Plato).

Verb, intransitive:
This brand is dyeing well.

This cloth is dyeing easily.

I love dyeing with a mud bucket.

Verb, transitive:
The coloring matter is dyeing greener than I expected.

“She is known for dyeing her hair in different hues and this week there has been a purple tint” (Muir).

“We would like to hear from those who have stopped dyeing their hair and how they feel about it” (Tell).

It was in his dying hour that he gave me all his worldly goods.

But they were her dying words!

It’s like this is the dying year with two of my neighbors passing on.

Noun:
Dying is inevitable.

“The battlefield was littered with the dead and dying” (Dying).

“When it comes to death, counselling the dying, or helping the bereaved, we Christians have become secularised” (DyingLong).

Verb, intransitive:
The laughter died on his lips.

C’mon, laugh already. I’m dying out here.

The motor is dying.

I am dying to worldly matters

The storm slowly is dying down.

1. The first known use was before 1000.
   Old English and Middle English dēagunge.
2. The first known use was before 1000.
   Middle English dien, Old English dēagian, derivative of dēag.

1. The first known use was between 1250–1300, Middle English.
2. The first known use was between 1150–1200.
   Middle English dien, deien from the Old Norse deyja.