loss of life

idiomatic phrase

: death

… street robberies, often accompanied by cruel wounds, and not unfrequently by loss of life …

—Charles Dickens

: incidences of people dying

In 1900 a hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, destroying the city and killing over 6,000 persons—the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster ever recorded in the United States.

—David H. Hickcox

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above