DIE WITH ONE'S BOOTS ON
die with one's boots on: translation
die in one's boots & die with one's boots on
Fig. to go down fighting; to die in some fashion other than in bed; to die fighting. (Popularized by western movies. Heroes and villains of these movies said they preferred death in a gunfight to showing cowardice or giving up.) •
I won't let him get me. I'll die in my boots.