to death; like crazy; dying to
Used adverbially with adjectives or verbs to express an extreme degree, often in hyperbolic expressions like 'bored to death' or 'dying for a drink'.
I was bored to death.
He said he was dying for a beer.
Standard kanji-kana spelling; ほど is usually written in kana.
Kanji spelling for ほど; less common but seen in formal or literary writing.
Compound of 死ぬ (to die) + ほど (extent, degree), literally 'to the extent of dying'. Used hyperbolically to express an extreme degree.