If Parliament is not dissolved by the Crown, its term expires at the end of the seven years prescribed by the Septennial Act of 1716; but, as a matter of fact, Parliament never dies a natural death, and if its life is not cut off earlier, a dissolution takes place shortly before the end of the seven years.
"The Government of England (Vol. I)"
A. Lawrence Lowell
But you must arrange to spend a day, or at any rate an evening, with me in town before my leave expires.
"The Orchard of Tears"
Sax Rohmer
Our fires, upon the size and goodness of which much of a soldier's happiness depends, were composed solely of reeds; a species of fuel which, like straw, soon blazes up, and soon expires again, almost without communicating any degree of warmth.
"The Campaigns of the British Army at Washington and New Orleans 1814-1815"
G. R. Gleig