Out of the jaws of death

The figurative phrases ‘the gates of death’ and ‘the jaws of death’ refer to the approach to danger or death. The earliest citation I can find to ‘the jaws of death’ is in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, 1602.

ANTONIO:
Let me speak a little. This youth that you see here
I snatch’d one half out of the jaws of death,
Relieved him with such sanctity of love,
And to his image, which methought did promise
Most venerable worth, did I devotion.

See other phrases and sayings from Shakespeare.