"to kick the bucket", 1789

[Joel S. Berson]

The OED has 1785, from Grose's dictionary, and then 1806.

Or if, perchance, thou should the bucket kick,
As those whose breath is stopt oft turn dead-sick,
Than may anatomists put no tricks on thee;
Setting themselves and 'prentices to work
To cut and hack thee up, like beef or pork,
As Doctor Foster carved Doctor Monsey!

Brother Tom to Brother Peter, or Peter Paid in his own Pence: With
the Articles of Partnership between the Devil and Peter Pindar,
Esq.  An Historical Epistle.
By a Moonraker.
London: Sold by J. Parsons, 1789.
Page 86.

Joel

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