to have one foot in a grave? tricky idiom

when do they say 'to have one foot in a grave'?

my teacher(she is from scotland) says we can say that only about old people

but my dictionary(its longman) says that we can use it both way( about very ill and very old)

whats the true?

thanks

You can say it about anyone who is old, sick, injured taking a risk or living a risky or dangerous lifestyle.

And about people who have literally one of their feet in someone's grave

It's like "Одной ногой в могиле", the same works for Russian.

They say I might as well face the truth,
That I am just too long in the tooth,
Oh, I’m an OAP and with needs,
But I have not yet quite gone to seed
I may be over the hill now that I have retired,
Fading away but I’m not yet expired,
Clapped out, run down, too old to save,
One foot in the grave
One foot in the grave

thanks everybody

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VendingMachine

They say I might as well face the truth,
That I am just too long in the tooth,
Oh, I’m an OAP and with needs,
But I have not yet quite gone to seed
I may be over the hill now that I have retired,
Fading away but I’m not yet expired,
Clapped out, run down, too old to save,
One foot in the grave
One foot in the grave

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VendingMachine, you are so British.

Is "to have one foot in the grave" the same as "дышать на ладан"?

Perfectly matching.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by saibot

Is "to have one foot in the grave" the same as "дышать на ладан"?

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Yes, but we have an even closer idiom: одной ногой на том свете.