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Memento Mori : A warning or reminder of the inevitability of death, esp. a skull or other symbolic object. Later sometimes in weakened use: any grim, ominous, or sobering symbol (dictionary.oed.com). Note the first use of memento mori listed in the OED :
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Memento Mori :A warning or reminder of the inevitability of death, esp. a skull or other symbolic object. Later sometimes in weakened use: any grim, ominous, or sobering symbol (dictionary.oed.com).
Note the first use of memento mori listed in the OED: 1598SHAKESPEARE1 Hen. IV, III. iii. 29, I make as good vse of it as many a man doth of a deaths head, or a memento mori. c1600Pilgimage to Parnassus II, in Three Parnassus Plays (1949) 106 If I doe not..Ile giue my heade to anie good felowe to make a memento mori of. a1680EARL OF ROCHESTERLet. from Artemiza in Town in Poems 25 Now scorn'd of all, forsaken, and opprest. She's a Memento mori, to the rest. 1738G. LILLOMarina I. ii, Thy face is a memento mori for thy own sex. 1798T. HOLCROFTHe's much to Blame III. vii. 47, I never yet saw a mask in the character of a Memento mori. 1850THACKERAYPendennis II. xxiii. 229 A great man must keep his heir at his feast like a living memento mori. 1877W. JONESFinger-ring Lore 372 In the same collection is a ‘memento mori’ ring, of bronze. 1928 L. WOOLF Let. 4 Oct. (1989) 237, I got on quite all right. I started well with a cheerful memento mori. 1985Times Lit. Suppl. 17 May 544/1 The Socialist Polizeistaat is in itself the largest memento mori for its people.