Why do we say "Like death warmed up"?

Meaning:

To look totally exhausted or ill.

Background:

Early Use

The earliest use found is in the Soldier's War Slang Dictionary, published in 1939.

Soon after Ngaio Marsh used it in Death and the Dancing Footman (942): "I look like death warmed up and what I feel is nobody's business."

Ngaio Marsh, a contemporary of Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers, wrote 32 classic English detective stories over a 50-year-span from 1932-1982. Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, her first name is a Maori word, meaning "Reflections on the water."

In US English the norm is to say "death warmed over."

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