Question: One of Joonas's old Qs. has made a welcome return: [Is there a Latin euphemism for going to the toilet?](https://latin.stackexchange.com/q/516/1982). This brought to mind the fatuous things we say about death: "He's passed over."; "He's passed on."; currently in vogue; "He's passed."; this could be, "He's (the) past." reflecting American gangster-vernacular, "He's history.".

Much of this is driven by embarrassment (and fear of death), especially when talking to the bereaved--what do you say?

I'm just as bad, using Cockney (London) rhyming-slang, "He's brown-bread.".

Did the Romans use euphemisms for "death" & "dying"?

Answer: 
I believe acquiescere, excedere, and decedere were used euphemistically. excedere and decedere could be used with "de vita". Lewis and Short also lists "vixit"(he lived) as a euphemism for having died, as well as euphemisms like "si quid factum sit aliquo", "if anything happens to anyone" aka "if anyone dies". I'll try to come up with some more information, but I hope this satiates your curiosity until then.
The verb *ex*(*s*)*pirare*, with or without the direct object *animam*, means 'to breathe one's last breath.' It's found, for example, in Seneca the Younger, *Apocolocyntosis* 4:

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> *expiravit autem dum comoedos audit, ut scias me non sine causa illos timere.*
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> Moreover, he breathed his last breath while listening to comic actors, so you know that it's not without reason that I fear them.
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According to OLD, other verbs can be used instead of *expirare*: *edere*, *efflare*, *emittere*, etc.

Incidentally, the same section of the *Apocolocyntosis* includes what I think would qualify more as dysphemism than euphemism: *animam ebullire*:

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> *et ille quidem animam ebulliit, et ex eo desiit vivere videri.*
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> And he, for his part, did gurgle out his life and from then on ceased to have even the semblance of being alive.
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