| 释义 |
▪ I. dead, a. (n.1, adv.)|dɛd|
Forms: 1–3 déad, 2–3 dæd, (3 deæd), 2–7 ded, (4 deede, deid, did, Ayenb. dyad, dyead), 4–6 deed, dede, 5 deyde, dyde, 6 dedde, 6–7 deade, (5– Sc. deid), 6– dead.
[A common Teut. adj.; orig. pple.: OE. déad = OFris. dâd (WFris., NFris. dead), OS. dôd, MDu. dôt(d), Du. dood, MLG. dôt, dôd, LG. dôd, OHG., MHG. tôt (Ger. todt, tot), ON. dauðr (Sw., Da. död), Goth. dauþs:—OTeut. *dau-do-z, pre-Teut. *dhau-ˈtos, pa. pple. from vb. stem dau- (pre-Teut. dhau-), preserved in ON. deyja (:—dau-jan) and in OS. dôian, OHS. touwen, to die. The suffix is = L. -tus, Gr. -τός, Skr. -tas.
The suffixal d in OTeut. *daudo-z, Eng. dead (pre-Teut. *dhauˈtos), as opposed to the þ in dauþu-z, death (pre-Teut. *ˈdhautus), shows the influence of the position of the stress accent on the Teutonic representation of original breath mutes, as set forth in Verner's Law.]
A. adj.
I. Literally, and in senses directly connected.
* Said of things that have been alive.
1. That has ceased to live; deprived of life; in that state in which the vital functions and powers have come to an end, and are incapable of being restored:
a. of men and animals.
Beowulf 939 Þa wæs Heregar dead min yldra mæᵹ. c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. ix. 24 Nys þys mæden dead. 1154O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1135 Þat ilc ȝær warth þe king ded. c1205Lay. 19229 Hire lauerd wes dæd [c 1275 dead]. a1300Cursor M. 6130 (Cott.) Na hus..Þat þar ne was ded [v.rr. deed, dede] man ligand. a1400Poems Vernon MS. 534 Better is a quik and an hol hounde Þen a ded lyon. 1458in Turner Dom. Archit. III. 41 To drawe a deed body out of a lake. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. i. 6, I dreamt my Lady came and found me dead. 1606― Tr. & Cr. iv. v. 251 Where thou wilt hit me dead. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. Digress. 360 The Bird..within about a minute more would be stark dead. 1722De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 233 He was shot dead. 1795Burke Corr. IV. 239 Dead men, in their written opinions, are heard with patience. 1850Tennyson In Mem. lxxiv. 1 As sometimes in a dead man's face..A likeness..Comes out—to some one of his race.
b. of plants.
1382Wyclif Jude 12 Heruest trees with outen fruyt, twies deede, drawun up bi the roote. 1521Fisher Wks. (1876) 326 As a deed stoke, a tree withouten lyfe. 1855Tennyson Maud i. iii. 14, I..found The shining daffodil dead.
c. of parts or organs of animals or plants. See also deadhead n. 6.
c1000ælfric Interrog. Sigewulf (Anglia VII. 30), Mid ðam deadum fellum. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xciv. (1495) 586 Salte fretyth awaye deed flessh. 1484Caxton æsop v. x, He had kytte awey the dede braunches fro the tre. 1561Eden Arte Nauig. Pref. ⁋ij b, Vnsensate by reason of dead fleshe. 1643J. Steer tr. Exp. Chyrurg. vii. 27 If..the skin be burnt dead. 1787C. B. Trye in Med. Commun. II. 154 The absorbents will remove very little of dead bone. 1821Shelley Adonais xvi, The young Spring..threw down Her kindling buds, as if she Autumn were, Or they dead leaves.
d. Specifically used of that which has died of itself, instead of being killed or cut down when alive, as in dead shell (of a mollusc), dead wood, etc.
1877Encycl. Brit. VI. 539 Dead shells appear in some cases to be thus employed, but..in most..the [Hermit] crab kills the mollusk in order to secure its shell.
¶ to be dead was anciently used in the sense ‘to die’, and later in that of ‘to have died’; also = ‘To die at the hands of anyone, to be put to death, be killed’.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxii. 24 Gif hwa dead syᵹ, & bearn næbbe. c1205Lay. 196 After þa feourðer ȝere he was dead. c1340Cursor M. 14269 (Trin.) Alle that lyuen & trowen me Deed shul þei neuer be. c1386Chaucer Prol. 148 Soore wepte she if any of hem were deed. 1388Wyclif 2 Cor. v. 14 If oon died for alle, thanne alle weren deed [R.V. then all died]. [1557Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 169, I will be dead at once To do my Lady good.]
1382Wyclif Rom. v. 15 If thorw the gilt of oone many ben deed [ἀπέθανον: Rhem. & R.V. ‘many died’]. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. iii. 210 Alas my liege, my wife is dead to night. 1605― Lear v. iii. 292 Your eldest Daughters haue fore-done themselues, And desperately are dead. c1676Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 34 Lord Chesterfields lady is dead in her child-bed month. 1784Johnson Lett. (1788) II. 373 Macbean, after three days of illness, is dead of a suppression of urine. 1803Beddoes Hygëia xi. 75 note, I heard..that he was dead of scarlet fever.
a1300Cursor M. 6688 (Cott.) Qua smites his thain wit a wand, And he be deid vnder his hand. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints, Andreas 8 For one þe cors bath ded þai were. 1460J. Capgrave Chron. 265 Condempned to be ded as a tretoure. c1477Caxton Jason 10 How many men and..women haue ben slayn and ded by thy poysons.
2. Bereft of sensation or vitality; benumbed, insensible.
a. Of parts of the body. (Also fig.)
See also dead palsy.
a1225Ancr. R. 112 A lutel ihurt i þen eie derueð more þen deð a muchel iðe hele: vor þet fleschs is deadure þere. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. i. (1495) 77 Thynges that be deed and dystroyed wyth colde. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 21 The messenger of so unhappie newes Would faine have dyde: dead was his hart within. 1607Topsell Serpents (1658) 593 They take Serpents in the Winter time, when they grow dead and stiffe through cold. 1806Coleridge in Flagg Life W. Allston (1893) 77 My head felt like another man's head; so dead was it [etc.]. 1893J. Hutchinson Archives Surg. No. 12 III. 311 The liability to ‘dead fingers’. Ibid. 312 This pair of fingers on each hand had been liable for at least two years to become ‘dead’ in the morning after washing.
b. Of persons: deathlike, insensible, in a swoon. Obs. Also of sleep, a faint.
c1369Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 127 She..Was wery, and thus the ded slepe Fil on hir. 1598Florio, Sópore, a dead swoune, deepe sleepe or drousie sicknes. 1610Shakes. Temp. v. i. 230 We were dead of sleepe. 1610P. Barrough Physick (1639) i. xx. 30 Coma..may be called in English dead sleep. 1666–7Pepys Diary 7 Feb. (D.), He was fallen down all along upon the ground dead..he did presently come to himself. 1752Fielding Amelia iii. ix. (D.), We there beheld the most shocking sight in the world, Miss Bath lying dead on the floor..Miss Bath was at length recovered. Mod. She fell on the floor in a dead faint.
c. In hyperbolical phrases expressing extreme fatigue or indisposition.
1813Annabella Milbanke Diary (MS.), At home dead. 1894Pall Mall Mag. Feb. 583 I'm nearly dead from being boxed up in the house all day. 1915W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xliii. 208 You know, I'm simply dead. I don't think I can absorb anything more profitably. Let's go and sit down. 1962J. Braine Life at Top xiv. 185 ‘It doesn't matter who started it now,’ I yawned. ‘Honestly, I'm dead on my feet, Susan.’ 1970P. Carlon Death by Demonstration xvi. 175 One job's enough. Come evening and I'm dead on my feet usually.
d. Of pain: dull and continuous, as opposed to sharp and sudden pain.
1863T. B. Curling Dis. Rectum (ed. 3) 24 He complained of suffering from a dead, aching pain. 1894H. H. Gardener Unoff. Patriot 348 She only sat and stared, and was conscious of the dull dead pain.
3. a. As good as dead in respect to (something); insensible to.
1340Ayenb. 240 He ssel by dyead to þe wordle, and libbe to god. 1601? Marston Pasquil & Kath. i. 307 You are dead to natiue pleasures life. 1647N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. lix. (1739) 114 He that is in a Monastery is dead to all worldly affairs. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 224 Obstinate fellows who were dead to reason. 1813Shelley Q. Mab v. 33 Sensual, and vile; Dead to all love. 1874Green Short Hist. viii. 550 Charles was equally dead to the moderation and to the wisdom of this great Act of Settlement.
b. Hence, As good as dead, in some particular respect or capacity: spec. in Law, cut off from civil rights and so legally reckoned as dead.
1710Pope Let. to Cromwell 17 May, Dead in a poetical Capacity, as a damn'd Author; and dead in a civil Capacity, as a useless Member of the Common-wealth. 1828Webster, Dead..In law, cut off from the rights of a citizen..as one banished or becoming a monk is civilly dead. Blackstone.
c. Colloq. phr. dead to the world: unconscious or fast asleep; unaware of the external world.
1899Ade Doc' Horne ii. 19 Our host is dead to the world,’ observed the actor... ‘Let him rest,’ said Doc'. 1906E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands iii. 31 Heaven knows what blissful emotions were stirring softly in his bony breast, but he was ‘dead to the world’. 1906Dialect Notes III. ii. 133 Dead to the world, unconscious. ‘He fell down and was dead to the world for a while.’ 1955E. Hillary High Adventure 166 He stumbled and fell slowly on to his face and lay there—dead to the world! 1957G. Frick tr. Yourcenar's Coup de Grâce 56 A muffled sound of snoring rose from the great hall..where thirty exhausted lads lay dead to the world.
4. Destitute of spiritual life or energy.
1382Wyclif Eph. ii. 1 Whanne ȝe weren deede in ȝoure giltis and synnes. 1534Tindale 1 Tim. v. 6 She that liveth in pleasure, is deed even yet alive. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. viii. 35 To have no Desire, is to be Dead. 1668Howe Bless. Righteous (1825) 206 How often are men the deader for all endeavours to quicken them. 1793Cowper Stanzas Yearly Bill of Mortality i, He lives, who lives to God alone, And all are dead beside. 1884J. Parker Apost. Life III. 111 There is no deader thing unburied..in many places, than the professing Church of Christ.
5. fig. Of things (practices, feelings, etc.): No longer in existence, or in use; extinct, obsolete, perished, past; esp. of languages, no longer spoken. (See also dead letter.)
1591Shakes. Two Gent. ii. vi. 28 My Loue to her is dead. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. 1. 71 These..are dead tenets and opinions. 1712Addison Spect. No. 285 ⁋5 The Works of Ancient Authors, which are written in dead Languages. 1847Tennyson Princ. vii. 327 My doubts are dead. 1861A. Beresford-Hope Eng. Cathedr. 19th C. 167 The lapse from vernacular to dead tongue services. 1884J. Sharman Hist. Swearing vi. 102 Seeking to revive this dead past.
** Said of things naturally without life.
6. a. Not endowed with life; inanimate.
1430E.E. Wills (1882) 85 Alle necessarijs longynge to housold of dede store. 1534More On the Passion Wks. 1274/1 He made it haue a beyng, as hathe the dead stone. 1636Sanderson Serm. II. 57 Shooting sometimes at a dead mark. 1712Addison Spect. No. 519 ⁋6 There are some living creatures which are raised but just above dead matter. 1857H. Miller Test. Rocks iii. 156 The long ascending line from dead matter to man.
b. Applied rhetorically, emphasizing the inert and negative qualities of mere matter.
(In the quot. there are also associations with branch III.)
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 23 And þus þese rome renneris beren þe kyngys gold out of oure lond, and bryngen aȝen deed leed, and heresie and symonye and goddis curse.
*** Transferred applications of the literal senses.
7. Composed of dead plants, or of dead wood, as a dead hedge or dead fence (opposed to quickset).
1563T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 7 A..rude inclosure..made of..bushes hauing no life, which wee name a dead hedge. 1686Plot Staffordsh. 357 For a dead-fence, none..better..than those heathy-turf walls. 1728Douglas in Phil. Trans. XXXV. 567 The Fences consist of what they call dead Hedges, or Hurdles to keep out..Cattle. 1805Forsyth Beauties Scotl. I. 524 A dead hedge is generally placed on the top of the bank.
8. Of, pertaining or relating to a dead person, animal, plant, etc., or to some one's death.
(In some cases not easily separated from the attributive use in B. 6, or from dead, northern form of death n.)
1580Sidney Arcadia ii. (1674) 130 (D.) The tomb..which they caused to be made for them with..notable workmanship, to preserve their dead lives. 1595Shakes. John v. vii. 65 You breath these dead newes in as dead an eare. 1662R. Mathew Unl. Alch. §89. 140 His water [was] shewn to two Doctors, whose judgement was that it was a dead water; and..he would die that night. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 173 It is more difficult to make Plants grow in Gaps and dead Places, than in a new Spot. 1791W. Combe Devil upon Two Sticks (1817) IV. 182 It is what the medical people call a dead case..a consultation..to discover the disorder of which their patient died. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 399 (Hop-growing) When a dead hill occurs in a garden..the following is the quickest mode of replacing it.
†9. Causing death, deadly, mortal. Obs.
c1400Destr. Troy 1339 In a ded hate. Ibid. 11017 Pyrrus..come..Þat doghty to dere with a dede stroke. 1606Choice, Chance, &c. (1881) 72 Beares a dead wound but as a little stripe. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 445 Thou Churle, for this time (Though full of our displeasure) yet we free thee From the dead blow of it.
10. Devoid of ‘life’ or living organisms; hence, barren, infertile, yielding nothing. (Cf. B. 4.)
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) i. 21 b (marg.), Though the land be as riche as may be, yet yf you goe any deapth, you shall have it barren [margin Dead mould]. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 186 You cannot dig many spades in mold or growthsom earth, before you come at a dead soyl. 1747Hooson Miner's Dict. G ij b, Dead [is] where there is no Ore..Deads are the Gear or Work got in such dead Places. 1806Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 57 A rich friable clay on a bottom of dead sand. 1820Scoresby Acc. Arct. Reg. II. 211 The parallel of 77° to 77½° is considered a ‘dead latitude’ by the fishers, but occasionally it affords whales. 1874Knight Dict. Mech., Dead-ground (Mining), a body of non-metalliferous rock dividing a vein, which passes on each side of it.
II. Deprived of or wanting some ‘vital’ or characteristic physical quality.
11. Without fire, flame, or glow; extinguished, extinct. (Opposed to live, as in live coal.)
1340Ayenb. 205 A quic col bernide ope ane hyeape of dyade coles. 1530Palsgr. 212/2 Deed cole, charbon. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. v. i. 68 Starres, Starres, And all eyes else, dead coales. 1639Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. Unl. v. §46 Wood burning is called a fire-brand; being quenched..a dead brand. 1833H. Coleridge Sonn. xviii, The crackling embers on the hearth are dead. 1884Illust. Lond. News 19 Jan. 66/3 Putting his dead cigar in his mouth and puffing as though it had been alight.
12. Having lost its active quality or virtue.
a. Of drink, etc.: That has lost its sharpness, taste, or flavour; flat, vapid, insipid. ? Obs.
1552Huloet, Dead, pale, or vinewed to be, as wyne which hath lost his verdure, muceo. 1580Baret Alv. D 132 Dead and vnsauorie salt. 1596Nashe Saffron Walden 115 A cup of dead beere, that had stood pawling by him in a pot three dayes. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 430 If..it [Musk] lose the savour and be dead. 1664Evelyn Pomona Advt., It will not ferment at all, and then the Cider will be dead, flat, and soure. 1747Wesley Prim. Physic (1765) 68 Dip a soft Rag in dead small Beer.
b. dead lime: opposed to quick-lime; dead steam, exhausted steam.
1831Mech. Mag. XVI. 79 In certain circumstances carbonate of lime is changed by burning into lime which does not heat with water, and which is called dead lime. 1874Knight Dict. Mech., Dead steam.
c. Electr. Of a circuit, conductor, etc.: carrying or transmitting no current; not connected to a source of electricity.
1903A. H. Beavan Tube, Train, etc. xi. 134 The studs are ‘alive’ while the car is over them, and ‘dead’ as soon as it has passed. 1906Westm. Gaz. 13 July 5/2 There was another stoppage..caused by a ‘dead’ car. 1929D. Hammett Dain Curse (1930) xi. 109 The phone was there, but dead. 1937D. Jones In Parenthesis v. 112 Every telephonist with a dead instrument about his ears. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 5/5, I tried to call the operator but the phone was dead.
13. Without colour or brightness:
†a. Of the countenance, etc.: Deadly pale, wan. Obs.
c1386Chaucer Doctor's T. 209 With a face deed as aisshen colde. c1430Lydg. Bochas iii. xx. 91 b, With pale and dead visage. 1500–20Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 420, I drup with a ded luke, in my dule habit. 1567R. Edwards Damon & Pithias in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 98 Why is thy colour so dead? 1604Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 177 Honest Iago, that lookes dead with greeuing. 1668Dryden Maiden Queen ii. i, The dead colour of her face.
b. Of colour, etc.: Without brightness, dull, lustreless. (See also dead colour.)
1640Parkinson Theat. Bot. 483 Such like flowers, but of a sadder or deader colour. 1720De Foe Capt. Singleton viii. (1840) 138 A thick moss..of a blackish dead colour. 1805–17R. Jameson Char. Min. 59 The principal colours are divided into two series..bright colours, [and] dead colours; red, green, blue, and yellow belong to the first; and white, grey, black, and brown, to the second. 1855G. Brimley Ess. 58 The deader green of ordinary foliage. 1874Knight Dict. Mech., Dead-gold, the unburnished surface of gold or gold-leaf..Parts of objects are frequently left unburnished as a foil to the..burnished portions. 1883J. Millington Are we to read backwards? 93 Paper of a brown or yellow tint, with a dead or non-reflecting surface.
14. a. Of sound: without resonance, dull, muffled.
c1530Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 289 The lady called them again, but..very softely, for it was with a dead voice. 1580Baret Alv. D 131 Ones voice..neither dead in sowne, nor ouer shrill. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxvii. 209 The Bell seem'd to sound more dead. 1675Wood Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 332 They being so cast, severall were found to be ugly dead bells. 1712F. T. Shorthand 5 The sound of D being like a flat dead T. 1783Blagden in Phil. Trans. LXXIII. 332 A solid..metallic mass..yielding a dull dead sound like that metal [lead]. 1847Mrs. Sherwood Fairchild Fam. III. viii. 110 A dead sound of some heavy, though soft body, in the..act of falling.
b. Acoustics. Allowing little or no reverberation.
1907Science XXVI. 879/2 The small room..when closed..also serves to act as a dead air space between the larger room and the building wall. 1923Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics IV. 694/2 A room considered to be right for speech may be just a little too dead for music. 1930Bell. Syst. Techn. Jrnl. IX. 596 (heading) Reverberation Time in ‘Dead’ Rooms. Ibid., With the advent of radio broadcasting and sound pictures very ‘dead’ rooms have been built. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ii. 33 To do away with reverberation entirely and try to create entirely ‘dead’ studios. Ibid. 47 A section of the studio with almost completely dead acoustics, i.e. a ‘dead-room’.
15. Not fulfilling the normal and ostensible purpose. (See also dead door (in D. 2), dead-eye, dead-light 1, dead well 2.)
1806Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 381 A..bridge..over the water of Bervie, the dead arches of which have been fitted up as a town-hall. 1874Knight Dict. Mech., Dead..2. False; as of imitation doors and windows, put in as architectural devices to balance parts.
III. Without animation, vigour, or activity; inactive, quiet, dull.
16. a. Without vigour or animation, lifeless.
a1000Seafarer 65 (Bosw.) Me hatran sind Dryhtnes dreamas ðonne ðis deade lif. c1422Hoccleve Learn to Die 714 Where is your help now, where is your chiertee?..al as deed is as a stoon? 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 691/1 To shewe that wee are Gods true seruants we must not go to work with a dead hand (as the prouerb is). 1646H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 167 Patience without hope is the deadest thing in the world. c1665Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson 24 Or can be gathered from a bare dead description. a1719Addison (J.), How cold and dead does a prayer appear..when it is not heightened by solemnity of phrase from the sacred writings. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Race Wks. (Bohn) II. 22 Active intellect and dead conservatism.
b. slang. Of a race-horse: not intended to win; fraudulently run in such a way that it cannot win; chiefly in dead one, dead 'un.
1864Baily's Mag. June 121 A horse which has been regarded occasionally as a dead one has proved lively enough to beat the winner of the Two Thousand. 1868London Review 11 July 38/2 The stable and owners might safely lay against what was technically a ‘dead 'un’ from the first. 1880H. Smart Social Sinners v, Lord, what ‘dead 'uns’ he did back, to be sure! 1922N. & Q. 12th Ser. XI. 206/2 Dead meat. Horses which are not out to win are so described.
c. Lacking resiliency or springiness; esp. of turf.
1870N.Y. Herald 22 July 5/6 A dead ball was used, and again it was clearly demonstrated that this is the proper kind to play with. 1895H. W. W. Wilberforce Lawn Tennis ix. 29 This form of game..arose from the very wet and dead state of the courts. 1909P. A. Vaile Mod. Golf viii. 120 You will do well, should you have to choose [a driver] for yourself, to exercise moderation. Avoid too much spring. Don't have a ‘dead’ one. 1930Morning Post 16 July 16/2 So well did Squires and Peach perform on the dead pitch that the Kent total of 317 was passed without the loss of another wicket.
17. Without active force or practical effect; ineffectual, inoperative. (See also dead letter 1.)
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 22 Ȝif it be ded feiþ as fendis han. c1400Apol. Loll. 3 Seynt Jam seiþ, Feiþ wiþ outun werkis is deed. 1548in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. 133 Good and necessarye ordres..with-out the which, all lawes and ordenaunces..ar butt baryn, ded, and vayne. 1647N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. xvi, Nor was this a dead word; for the people had formerly a trick of deposing their Kings. 1842J. H. Newman Par. Serm. VI. xii. 179 To have been so earnest for a dead ordinance.
18. a. Characterized by absence of physical activity, motion, or sound; profoundly quiet or still. (Cf. B. 2.)
1548Hall Chron. 107 In the dedde tyme of the night. 1573G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 12 It was in the deadist time of winter. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. ii. 67 'Tis now dead midnight. a1610Knolles (J.), They came in the dead winter to Aleppo. 1863Kinglake Crimea (1876) I. xiv. 294 The dead hours of the night.
b. Of a house: uninhabited. slang.
1879J. W. Horsley in Macm. Mag. XL. 505/2 Me and the screwsman went to Gravesend, and I found a dead 'un (uninhabited house). 1896A. Morrison Child Jago 231 On the look out for a dead 'un. 1922Daily Mail 8 Aug. 2/2 We thought it was a ‘dead’ house, but we walked into a girl's room and she squealed.
c. Mil. Denoting an area which cannot be fired on from a particular point because of the nature of the ground, intervening obstacles, etc. (Cf. dead angle in D. 2.)
1899Westm. Gaz. 9 Dec. 5/3 Besides the great advantage which we shall reap from the smashing power of these howitzers against field defences, we shall also find them most valuable to search out hollow or hidden ground ‘dead’ to other fire. 1900Daily News 5 May 3/2 A high and rather steep hill, surrounded by a good deal of ‘dead’ ground. 1919Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. LIII. 38 There is not a single piece of ‘dead’ ground in the whole fortress.
19. Without alertness or briskness, inert.
1884St. James's Gaz. 4 Apr. 6/1 His recovery [in rowing] is dead, but his work strong.
20. a. Without commercial, social, or intellectual activity; inactive, dull. (Of places, seasons, trade, etc.).
1581B. Rich Farewell (Shaks. Soc.) 11 Traffique is so dead by meanes of thes foraine broiles, that [etc.]. 1615Stephens Satyr. Ess. (ed. 2) 193 As much leasure..in the most busie Terme, as in the deadest Vacation. 1665Surv. Aff. Netherl. 25 Complaints against dead Trade. 1676Temple Let. to Sir W. Godolphin Wks. 1731 II. 395 This Place is now as dead as I have seen any great Town. 1758Johnson Idler No. 55 ⁋10 Some [publishers] never had known such a dead time. 1774Foote Cozeners ii. Wks. 1799 II. 161 The town is thin, and business begins to grow dead. 1883Froude in Mrs. Carlyle's Lett. I. 59 It was the dead season; but there were a few persons still in London.
b. Of capital or stock: Lying commercially inactive or unemployed, unproductive.
1570–1Gresham Let. 7 Mar. in Burgon Life II. 421 There is yet in the Towre xxv or xxx M li. in Spannyshe monney; which is great pity should lye there dead and put to no use. 1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 325 They will not keep it by them as a dead stocke..they must imploy it in trade. 1691Locke Lower. Interest 7 That so none of the money..may lie dead. 1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4419/6 A considerable quantity of Arms and Ammunition, which were the dead Stock of the African Company. 1729Franklin Ess. Wks. (1840) II. 267 The money, which otherwise would have lain dead in their hands, is made to circulate again. 1813Sir S. Romilly in Examiner 15 Feb. 101/2 A fund, out of which part of this salary was proposed to be paid, was the Dead Fund, amounting to 9000l. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India I. i. iii. 44 The dead stock, as it is technically called.
c. Of goods: Lying unsold, unsaleable, for which there is no market.
1669–70Dryden Tyrannic Love v. i, And all your goods lie dead upon your hands. 1681R. Knox Hist. Ceylon in Arb. Garner I. 390 And now caps were become a very dead commodity. 1879Hibbs in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 263/2 A large quantity of finished articles lying as dead stock in the market.
d. Typogr. That has been used or is no longer required, as copy after composition, or type ready for distribution or discarded.
a1877Knight Dict. Mech. I. 679/2 Dead-letter, type which has been used for printing, and is ready for distribution. Dead matter. 1898J. Southward Mod. Printing I. xxiv. 154 The ‘dead’ letter..would, if of uniform face, constitute in itself a strong fount.
e. Of a cinema set: out of use. Cf. also quot. 1933.
1929A. C. & C. B. Edington Studio Murder Myst. i. 7 The skeletons of ‘dead’ sets clothed in flowing veils of gray. 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage i. 20 Every stage accessory which becomes‘dead’—that is to say, which is not used again during the performance—must be cleared to below-stage.
21. a. Of a ball in a game: Inactive (for the time being), out of play. Cf. dead wood 1.
1658Osborn Adv. Son (1673) 104 A place that seems equally inclined to different Opinions, I would advise to count it as Bowlers do, for dead to the present understanding. 1828Boy's Own Bk. Diversions (ed. 2) 55 If any player shall stop the ball intentionally..it shall then be considered dead. 1844Laws of Cricket xxxiii, It any fieldsman stop the ball with his hat, the ball shall be considered dead. 1868W. J. Whitmore Croquet Tact. 9 The term ‘dead’ ball is borrowed from cricket, and means the ball which, having just been played, has nothing actively to do for one turn. 1875Encycl. Brit. III. 407/1 (Baseball) A ball which hits the bat without being struck at, or the person of the striker or umpire, is a dead ball and out of play. 1876Ibid. IV. 180/2 A ‘dead bowl’ is one knocked off the green, or against one lying in the ditch, or an illegally played bowl, and must at once be removed from the green. 1900Laws of Cricket 4, 33a. If the ball, whether struck with the bat or not, lodges in a batsman's clothing, the ball shall become ‘Dead’. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 426/2 So the game [sc. Rugby football] proceeds until the ball is once more ‘dead’—that is, brought to a standstill. 1966B. Johnston Armchair Cricket 97 A ball does not become dead when it strikes an umpire.
b. Golf. Of the ball: placed so near the hole that it can be holed with certainty at the next stroke. Also as adv.
1857H. B. Farnie Golfer's Manual (1947) vii. 73 A ball is said to be dead..when it lies so close to the hole that the put is a certainty. 1881R. Forgan Golfer's Handbk. iii. 30 If you can possibly win a ‘half’ [i.e. halve a hole] by running your ball ‘dead’ at the side of the hole,..then the cautious game is to be preferred. 1898H. G. Hutchinson Golf (ed. 6) 83 Missing a four-inch put which your partner has left you..and receiving the cheery consolation, ‘Never mind, partner, never mind—another time I'll try to lay you dead.’ 1909P. A. Vaile Mod. Golf v. 73 A man may lie ‘dead’ off a run up, but I am referring now to the well-lofted shot that falls ‘plump’ within an easy put of the hole and scarcely moves.
IV. Without motion (relatively or absolutely).
22. a. Of water, air, etc.: Without motion or current; still, standing. (See also dead water.)
a1000Gnomica (Exon.) 79 (Gr.) Deop deada wæᵹ dyrne bið lengest. a1552Leland Collect. (1774) II. 546 The Water of Forth beyond Banokesburne, a deade depe Water. 1601Holland Pliny (1634) I. 55 The dead and slow riuer Araris. 1653Walton Angler 91 As he [the Trout] growes stronger, he gets from the dead, still water, into the sharp streames and the gravel. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxxvi. (1889) 357 The wind had fallen dead. 1867Baker Nile Trib. ii. 32 The banks..had evidently been overflowed during floods, but at the present time the river was dead.
b. Mining. Having no current of air, unventilated.
1867W. W. Smith Coal & Coal-mining 27 It would leave the mass of the openings inside of the working ‘bords’ dead or stagnant.
c. Of molten metal: thick and sluggish, either from insufficient melting or from having stood too long in a ladle. Cf. dead-melt v.
1884W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron xviii. 425 Too long exposure to the heat, or extreme ‘dead-melting’, produces a metal that runs dull and dead, affording ingots also of inferior quality.
d. Of ice: see quots.
1909Cent. Dict. Suppl. I. 619/3 Dead ice, ancient ice retained in ‘fossil glaciers’ or elsewhere under the soil and not moving downward. 1937Wooldridge & Morgan Physical Basis Geogr. xxii. 381 In Spitzbergen and elsewhere the ice has sometimes advanced over the low ground, but there has been no correspondingly rapid retreat. It has simply been left as ‘dead ice’, decaying by melting very slowly and without the production of large quantities of water. 1966T. Armstrong et al. Gloss. Snow & Ice 13 Dead ice, any part of a glacier which has ceased to flow. Dead ice is usually covered with moraine.
23. Said of parts of machines or apparatus which do not themselves rotate or move. (Cf. also dead-rope (in D. 2), dead-centre 2, -line 1.)
1807Gregory Mechanics II. 474 One of these pulleys called the dead pulley is fixed to the axis and turns with it. 1874Knight Dict. Mech., Dead..3. Motionless; as the dead spindle of a lathe, which does not rotate.
24. a. Characterized by complete and abrupt cessation of motion, action, or speech: as a dead stop, a sudden complete stop.
1647Ward Simp. Cobler 19 Others..are at a dead stand. 1765Sterne Tr. Shandy VII. xliii, My mule made a dead point. 1775F. Burney Early Diary, Lett. Dr. Burney Mar., My poor book—at a dead stop now. 1853Lytton My Novel i. xi, There was a dead pause. 1861Dickens Gt. Expect. ix, The answer spoilt his joke, and brought him to a dead stop.
b. Characterized by abrupt stoppage of motion without recoil; cf. dead beat n.1
1761Hirst in Phil. Trans. LII. 396 It did not stop in winding up, and scaped dead seconds. 1768tr. P. Le Roy's Attempts for finding Longitude 29 [The escapement] of my watches is a dead one. 1874Knight Dict. Mech., Dead-stroke hammer, a power-hammer which delivers its blow without being affected by the recoil of the shaft.
c. Cricket. Of a bat: held in a defensive position with a slightly loose grip so that the ball strikes it and immediately drops to the ground.
1955Times 13 July 8/6 But subsequently Bailey was simply Bailey, calm and unshakable, his whole defence built round the dead bat forward stroke. 1956R. Alston Test Commentary 113 These days of dead-bat technique and over-cautious defence.
V. Unrelieved, unbroken; absolute; complete; utmost.
These senses arise out of several of the preceding (cf. 18, 22, 24); and in some cases there is a blending of two or more notions.
25. a. Of a wall, level, etc.: Unbroken, unrelieved by breaks or interruptions; absolutely uniform and continuous.
In dead level there is at once the sense ‘unrelieved, unvaried, monotonous’, and that of ‘having no fall or inclination in any direction, absolute’.
1597Bacon Coulers Good & Evil (Arb.) 143 It seemeth..a shorter distance..if it be all dead and continued, then if it haue trees or buildings or any other markes whereby the eye may deuide it. 1670Dryden Conq. Granada ii. iii. i, By the dead wall, you, Abdelmelech, wind. 1742Pope Dunc. iv. 268 We bring to one dead level every mind. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxii. 153, I become more weary upon a dead level..than on a steep mountain side. 1868Yates Rock Ahead ii. i, On every hoarding and dead-wall. 1887Lowell Democr. 19 To reduce all mankind to a dead level of mediocrity.
†b. Flat. Obs.
1782Specif. Conway's Patent No. 1310. 2 The oven..has a dead or flat hearth.
26. Of calm or silence: Profound, deep (passing into the sense of ‘complete, absolute’: from 18).
1673Ld. Shaftsbury in Coll. of Poems 248 That we may not be tossed with boisterous Winds, nor overtaken by a sudden dead Calm. 1783Blagden in Phil. Trans. LXXIII. 354 A dead silence on the subject seems to have prevailed. 1839T. Beale Sperm Whale 205 There was a ‘dead calm’..not a breath of wind stirring. 1847Tennyson Princ. iv. 371 We heard In the dead hush the papers that she held Rustle.
27. Said of the lowest or stillest state of the tide, as dead low water, dead neap: cf. 31.
1561[see dead-water 3]. 1589Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 29 The Ocean at his deadest ebbe returns to a full tide. 1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 17 A lowe water, a dead lowewater. a1641Spelman Hist. Sacrilege (1698) 285 Such a dead Neipe (as they call it) as no Man living was known to have seen the like, the Sea fell so far back from the Land at Hunstanton. 1679Dryden Troil. & Cr. Pref., At high-flood of passion, even in the dead ebb, and lowest water-mark of the scene. 1724Lond. Gaz. No. 6290/3 At dead Low-Water upon a Spring Tide. 1809Rennell in Phil. Trans. XCIX. 403 note, The..accident happened at dead neaps. 1857Livingstone Trav. xxxii. 669, I crossed it at dead low-water.
28. In dead pull, dead strain, applied to the absolute or utmost exertion of strength to move an inert or resisting body; sheer; also to such tension exerted without producing motion. See also dead-lift.
1812–6Playfair Nat. Phil. (1819) I. 109 The weight which the animal exerting itself to the utmost, or at a dead pull, is just able to overcome. 1855Bain Senses & Int. ii. ii. §12 This power taking the form of movement as distinct from dead strain. 1857Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. I. 73 We may have pressure without motion, or dead pull..as at the critical instant when two nicely-matched wrestlers are balanced by the exertion of the utmost strength of each. 1890B. L. Gildersleeve Ess. & Stud. 64 There are things that must be learned by a dead pull.
29. Pressing with its full or unrelieved weight like an inanimate or inert body: see dead-weight. dead load, a load whose weight is constant and invariable; also attrib.
1781Cowper Truth 354 But royalty, nobility, and state, Are such a dead, preponderating weight. 1866[see factor n. 8]. 1891Scribner's Mag. X. 7 The greater engine-power will add to the dead load, thus still further diminishing the vessel's capability for carrying. 1930Engineering 18 Apr. 503/2 To relieve the main girders of dead-load deflection and live-load stress. 1970Fremdsprachen 43 The stratum..could be used for safe bearing pressures of 1,200 and 1,800 psf, for dead load and total load respectively.
30. Said of a charge, expense, loss: Unrelieved, absolute, complete, utter; also, of outlay, Unproductive, without returns. dead rent: a fixed rent which remains as a constant and unvarying charge upon a mining concession, etc. dead loss: a complete loss; freq. colloq., a person or thing that is totally worthless, inefficient, or unsuccessful; a complete failure; an utter waste of time. (Cf. quot. 1757.)
a1715Burnet Own Time (1823) I. 452 The intrinsic wealth of the nation was very high when it could answer such a dead charge. 1757Jos. Harris Coins 79 The deficiency upon the coins is so much dead loss to the public. 1796Burke Regic. Peace i. Wks. VIII. 152 It required a dead expence of three Millions sterling. 1825Scott Let. 25 May in Lockhart, I am a sharer to the extent of {pstlg}1500 on a railroad which will..double the rent..but is dead outlay in the mean time. 1826Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 7 Those colonies are a dead expense to us without a possibility of their ever being of any use. 1893Sir J. W. Chitty in Law Times Rep. LXVIII. 428/2 The royalty reserved was fourpence a ton..the dead rent was 30l. a year. 1907Sears, Roebuck Catal. 607/2 We seldom have two orders ‘just alike’ in every particular, consequently if the net was returned it would be a ‘dead loss’ to us. 1927T. E. Lawrence Let. 27 Dec. in To his Biographer, R. Graves (1938) ii. 144 This time it was a really good guard, and so I feel that the holiday has not been a dead loss. 1934Discovery Nov. 317/2 Dead weight [on railways] means dead loss. 1951‘J. Wyndham’ Day of Triffids v. 82 Certain unmistakable derniers cris, some of them undoubtedly destined..to become the rage of tomorrow: others, I would say, a dead loss from their very inception. 1956D. M. Davin Sullen Bell 92 You think a dead loss like myself has no right to say it.
31. a. Absolute, complete, entire, thorough, downright. Also dead-earnest in adjectival use.[Arising out of various earlier senses.] 1660Sharrock Vegetables 20 Till the seed..be come to a full and dead ripenesse. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xii, I had them a dead bargain. 1805Scott Let. to J. Ballantyne 12 Apr., This is a dead secret. 1842S. Kettell Quozziana 47, I saw, to a dead certainty, that if I should..be caught with my mouth open, I should be expected to say something. 1860Players I. 154 ‘Done brown, to a dead certainty’ said Buzzen to himself, as he went on eating. 1875‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Mar. 288/2 The grimmest and most dead-earnest of reading-matter. 1878Print. Trades Jrnl. No. 25. 15 We know to a dead certainty that [etc.]. 1883Century Mag. XXV. 372/2, I am in dead earnest. 1883‘Mark Twain’ Life Mississippi xviii. 223 Ritchie's good-natured badgering was pretty nearly as aggravating as Brown's dead-earnest nagging.
b. Quite certain, sure, unerring. (Cf. dead certainty in prec. sense.) dead shot, one whose aim is certain death; so dead on the bird. dead-on: certain, unerring, exactly right (see quot. 1889). See also dead-hand 2.
a1592Greene Jas. IV, iii. i. 203 1, I am dead at a pocket sir..I can..picke a purse as soone as any theefe in my countrie. 1681J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. x. §4 (1689) 104 It's a dead Bait for a Trout. 1776F. Marion in Harper's Mag. Sept. (1883) 547/2 It was so dead a shot they none of them said a word. 1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 330 A silent, stupid, and respectable country gentleman, a dead vote on one side of the House. 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. xxvi, With a gun in his hand, with much the air of a dead shot. 1874G. W. Dasent Half a Life II. 227 Those who do so..are almost always dead plucks. 1889Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 300/2 Dead-on (riflemen), straight on. A rifle-shot talks of the aiming being dead-on when the day is so calm that he can aim straight at the bull's eye instead of having to allow to the right or left for wind. He is said to be dead-on himself when he is shooting very well. 1959Punch 17 June 815/1 She sang all night with pure, dead-on tone. 1966‘K. Nicholson’ Hook, Line & Sinker ix. 102 Don't you think a gesture like this is simply dead-on, when it comes to showing how with-it the Church is today?
c. Exact.
Mod. Iron bars cut to a dead length are charged a little more.
d. Direct, straight. dead wind (Naut.): a wind directly opposed to the ship's course. (Cf. C. 3.) dead run: a run at full speed without any let-up. U.S.
1881Daily Tel. 28 Jan., It was a dead head-wind. 1888Harper's Mag. July 184 Keeping the sight of my rifle in a dead line for Gobo's ribs. 1889K. Munroe Golden Days xii. 130 He..started on a dead run back over the trail. 1920C. E. Mulford J. Nelson xii. 131 Striking into a dead run as he approached the rocky hump in the trail.
VI.
32. Phrases. a. dead and gone (usually in literal sense); hence dead-and-goneness. Also dead and alive (see dead-alive a.); dead and buried; dead and done (for, with). All these phrases are also used attrib. (with hyphens).
1482Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 62 He fownde me ded and gonne. 1523Skelton Garl. Laurel 1247 Of one Adame all a knave, dede and gone. 1602Shakes. Ham. iv. v. 29 He is dead and gone Lady, he is dead and gone. 1737Pope Hor. Epist. ii. i. 34 Advocates for folly dead and gone. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xix, When she was dead and gone, perhaps they would be sorry for it. 1863All Year Round IX. 473/1 The grave of Carthage, and other dead and buried cities of the Carthaginians. 1886Baumann Londinismen 39/1 Dead-and-done for, rein futsch; it had such a dead-and-done for look, es sah so ganz erbärmlich aus. 1891J. L. Kipling Beast & Man in India i. 7 Buddhism has been dead and done with in India proper for centuries. 1891H. Herman His Angel ii. 40 The dead-and-goneness of emotional fervour. 1897S. Erskine Lord Dullborough v, We..saw some six-months'-old playbills, announcing some dead-and-gone performance. 1909Westm. Gaz. 10 Mar. 11/2 It is urged that the intellect of the Pollman is starved and himself broken on the wheel of a dead-and-done system. 1934D. L. Sayers Nine Tailors ii. iv. 158, I won't have you fretting yourself about that old business no more. All that's dead and buried. 1956Essays in Criticism VI. 222 The dead-and-goneness of the past.
b. dead as a door-nail, dead as a herring: completely or certainly dead. Also, (as) dead as the (or a) dodo, (as) dead as mutton.
c1350Will. Palerne 628 For but ich haue bote of mi bale I am ded as dorenail. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 161 Fey withouten fait is febelore þen nouȝt, And ded as a dore-nayl. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. x. 42 If I doe not leaue you all as dead as a doore naile. [1598Shakes. Merry W. ii. iii. 12 By gar, de herring is no dead, so as I vill kill him.] 1664Butler Hud. ii. iii. 1148 Hudibras, to all appearing, Believ'd him to be dead as Herring. 1680Otway Caius Marius 57 As dead as a Herring, Stock-fish, or Door-nail. 1792I. Bickerstaffe Spoil'd Child ii. ii. 32 Thus let me seize my tender bit of lamb—there I think I had her as dead as mutton. 1838[see mutton 7]. 1856Reade Never too late lx, Ugh! what, is he, is he—Dead as a herring. 1884Pall Mall G. 29 May 5/2 The Congo treaty may now be regarded as being as dead as a doornail. 1904H. O. Sturgis Belchamber iv. 51 The Radicalism of Mill..is as dead as the dodo. 1919W. S. Maugham Moon & Sixpence ii. 10 Mr. Crabbe was as dead as mutton, but Mr. Crabbe continued to write moral stories in rhymed couplets. 1935Ann. Reg. 1934 ii. 305 References appearing in the London newspapers to the effect that ‘war debts are as dead as the Dodo’ were cabled to the American press. 1960Guardian 24 Mar. 11/1 Mr. Menzies..refused a request for a boycott..saying he had hoped this ‘was as dead as a dodo’.
c. dead horse: see horse.
d. to wait for dead men's shoes: see shoe.
e. to be dead on: cf. death n. 16. slang.
1891‘S. C. Scrivener’ Fields & Cities 22 These boys always were ‘dead’ on a rat, no matter what its size.
f. to be dead nuts on: see nut n.1 6.
g. Colloq. phr. (I, etc.) wouldn't be seen (or found) dead in, with: (I shall) have nothing to do with (something or someone); (I) hate, detest.
1915Kipling Debits & Credits (1926) 29 ‘Wouldn't be found dead in Hilarity,’ was Winchmore's grateful reply. 1931T. R. G. Lyell Slang, Phrase & Idiom 671 No decent person would be seen dead with a specimen like that! 1933A. G. Macdonell England, their England xiii. 222, I have to hang on to one [sc. a car] that my daughters say they wouldn't be seen dead in. 1937M. Sharp Nutmeg Tree ix. 103 In the whole of France there wasn't a hat she would be seen dead in. 1966A. E. Lindop I start Counting ix. 110 Do you think I'd be seen dead in gear like that?
h. Colloq. phr. dead from the neck up: brainless, stupid.
1930J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel ii. 161 Most of the inhabitants were dead from the neck up. 1963Wodehouse Stiff Upper Lip vi. 64 The sort of dead-from-the-neck-up dumb brick who wouldn't have thought of it.
¶ The compar. deader and superl. deadest are in use where the sense permits; chiefly in transf. and fig. senses (e.g. 4, 16, above).
B. n. (or absol.)
1. a. sing. One who is dead, a dead person. Formerly with a, and with possessive dead's (dedes, dedis). b. pl. the dead.
c1175Lamb. Hom. 51 Al swa me deað bi þe deade. c1340Cursor M. 18043 (Trin.) Þat dede [Lazarus] from deþ to lif he diȝt. 1340Ayenb. 258 Huanne me yziȝþ bere ane byrie þet is tokne þet þer is wyþine a dyad. 1465Paston Lett. No. 510 II. 202 Tochyng the savacyon of the dedys gode. 1529S. Fish Supplic. Beggers 2 Or elles they will accuse the dedes frendes. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. iii. ii. 131, I rather choose To wrong the dead..Then I will wrong such Honourable men. 1691tr. Emilianne's Frauds Rom. Monks 32 The Dead, raising himself the third and last time. 1850Tennyson In Mem. lxxxv, So hold I commerce with the dead; Or so methinks the dead would say.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. viii. 22 And læt deade bebyriᵹean hyra deadan. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 23 To demen þe quike and þe deade. 1426Audelay Poems 7 Vysyte the seke..And beré the ded. 1661Cowley Disc. Govt. O. Cromwell, The Monuments of the Dead. 1776Adam Smith W.N. v. ii. (1869) II. 453 The transference of..property from the dead to the living. 1842Tennyson Two Voices lxix, Nor canst thou show the dead are dead.
c. from the dead [orig. tr. Lat. a mortuis, Gr. ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν in N.T.]: from among those that are dead; hence nearly = from death.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. John ii. 22 Miððy uutudlice ariseð from deadum. 1340Ayenb. 263 Þane þridde day a-ros uram þe dyade. 1557N. T. (Genev.) Rom. xi. 15 What shal the receauing of them be, but lyfe from the dead? 1652Gataker Antinom. 5 His rising from the ded. 1722De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 299 This was a kind of life from the dead to us both. 1862Trollope Orley F. xiii, Her voice sounded..like a voice from the dead.
2. = Dead period, season, or stage. dead of night, dead of winter: the time of intensest stillness, darkness, cold, etc.; = ‘depth’ (of winter). † dead of neap, the extreme stage of neap tide. (Cf. A. 18, 27.)
1548Hall Chron. 109 b, In the dedde of the night..he brake up his campe and fled. 1583Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 113 Neere toe dead of midnight yt drew. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 290 Euen in the dead of night. 1613Sherley Trav. Persia 4 My iourney was under-taken in the dead of winter. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §266 At dead of neap, when the tides run less rapid. 1807–8W. Irving Salmag. xx. (1860) 452 In the dead of winter, when nature is without charm. 1840Macaulay Clive (1867) 25 At dead of night, Clive marched out of the fort.
†3. = dead heat n. Obs.
1635Quarles Embl. x. (D.), Mammon well follow'd, Cupid bravely led; Both touchers; equal fortune makes a dead.
4. Mining. deads: earth or rock containing no ore (see A. 10); esp. as thrown out or heaped together in the course of working.
1653E. Manlove Rhymed Chron. 271 Deads, Meers, Groves. 1671Phil. Trans. VI. 2102 By Deads here are meant, that part of the Shelf which contains no metal. 1757Borlase ibid. L. 503 Noise..as if a studdle had broke, and the deads were set a running [note, Loose rubbish and broken stones of the mine]. 1851Kingsley Yeast xiii. (D.), A great furze-croft, full of deads (those are the earth-heaps they throw out of the shafts).
†5. U.S. college slang. A complete failure in ‘recitation’. Obs.
a1856Harvard Reg. 378 in B. H. Hall College Wds. & Customs, One must stand up in the singleness of his ignorance to understand all the mysterious feelings connected with a dead. 1857Harvard Mag. Oct. 332, I had made a dead that day, and my Tutor's rebuke had touched my pride.
¶6. The absolute sense is also used attrib., as in dead money, money paid for saying masses for the dead; dead list, list of the dead, etc. See various examples under D. 1, 2.
Grammatically, these pass back again into the adjective uses in A, from which, in some cases, they are not easy to separate, as dead meat, the flesh of slaughtered animals, or flesh which is itself dead (in sense 1); dead wool, the wool of dead or slaughtered sheep.
1476Churchw. Acc. Croscombe (Somerset Rec. Soc.) 5 There is left of the ded money..xlvis jd. 1692Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 544 Some..in the dead list were not killed, but made prisoners. a1845A. E. Bray Warleigh xlii. (1884) 304 Examined into by the ‘dead jury’, for so was an inquest termed, at the date of our tale. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 177 ‘Dead salesmen’.. that is, the market salesmen of the meat sent..ready slaughtered. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., Persons dying on board..are cleared from the ship's books by a dead-ticket, which must be filled up in a similar manner to the sick-ticket. 1879A. P. Vivian Wand. in Western Land 115 American dead meat can be delivered in perfect condition in English ports. Ibid., The dead-meat trade is only in its infancy. 1880Victorian Rev. Feb. 664 Unlimited supplies of dead beef available for export from the United States. 1897Westm. Gaz. 18 May 2/3 One hideous monster was seen in the Park last week, puffing and rocking along and looking as much out of place as a dead-meat van in a Jubilee procession. 1908Ibid. 22 July 4/3 If we are soon to get cheap beef and mutton it must be by developing the dead-meat trade.
7. on the dead: in dead earnest; honestly. U.S. slang.
1896Ade Artie i. 7 On the dead, I don't believe any o' them people out there ever saw a good show. 1902H. L. Wilson Spenders xxix. 340 Say, on the dead, Uncle Peter, I wish you'd come. 1903A. H. Lewis Boss 184 But, on the dead! I'd like to learn how you..reconcile yourselves to things.
C. adv.
1. a. In a manner, or to a degree, characteristic of or suggesting death; with extreme inactivity, stillness, etc.; utterly, profoundly, absolutely (as dead asleep, dead calm); to extremity, ‘to death’ (as dead run, dead tired). Cf. also dead sick (in D. 2), dead drunk, etc.
Often connected with the qualified word by a hyphen, and thus passing into combinations.
[1393Gower Conf. III. 259 Whereof she swouned in his honde, And as who saith lay dede oppressed.] 1596R. L[inche] Diella (1877) 61 Leaden-footed griefe, Who neuer goes but with a dead-slowe pace. a1631Laud Serm. (1847) 125 Elias bid them cry louder; their God was ‘asleep’..Yes, dead asleep. 1637Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 267 Deferred hopes need not make me dead-sweir (as we used to say). 1727Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Hart, Dead run deer have upon occasion taken very great leaps. 1818Keats Endym. i. 405 As dead-still as a marble man. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast x. 24 In a few minutes it fell dead calm. 1842Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 157 For all so dead-weary as I lay down. Ibid. I. 160 Whether I fainted, or suddenly fell dead-asleep. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxford vi. (1889) 51 To drive into Farringdon..both horses dead done up. 1881Times 25 July 4/5 Her engines were going dead slow.
b. With absolute or abrupt cessation of motion (or speech). (Cf. A. 24.)
1856G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Cov., My companion stopped dead short and concealed her blushes in a glass of champagne. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. iv, He stopped dead.
c. With the full weight of an inert body. (Cf. A. 29.)
1875J. C. Wilcocks Sea Fisherman 83 What is this on my line which hauls as dead as if I had hooked a weed?
2. a. Hence more generally: Utterly, entirely, absolutely, quite. (Cf. A. 31.) Esp. dead broke (see broke ppl. a. 3), dead certain, dead easy, dead level, dead right, dead sure. Now colloq.
1589Nashe Almond for Parrat 5 b, Oh he is olde dogge at expounding, and deade sure at a Catechisme. 1741Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 62 A dead-spiteful, grey, goggling eye. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey i. v, He cut the Doctor quite dead to-day. 1857R. Tomes Amer. in Japan ix. 196 Before the rice is ‘dead ripe’. 1860Hook Lives Abps. (1862) II. ii. 93 Only one horse..which soon became dead lame. a1861T. Winthrop Canoe & Saddle (1863) 280 Prairieland lies dead level for leagues. 1871J. Hay Pike County Ballads 10 He'd seen his duty a dead-sure thing. 1883‘Mark Twain’ Life Mississippi xxxix. 414 We'll cotton⁓seed his salad for him..that's a dead-certain thing. 1885[see go v. 48 e]. 1888Greenwell Gloss. Coal Tr. Terms Northumb. & Durh. (ed. 3) 2 The small coals..are then passed over a second skreen, [to separate] the nuts..and the dead small, or duff which falls through the skreen. 1894in E. R. Lamson Yale Wit & Humor 47 (caption) A Dead Easy Queen Caught His Eye. 1895J. L. Williams Princeton Stories 166 You're dead right in saying he's too young. 1903A. Bennett Let. 24 Aug. (1960) 96 She is dead right all through. 1904W. H. Smith Promoters v. 92 For a dead easy mark in a business way, commend me to a preacher. 1908G. H. Lorimer J. Spurlock i. 19 It was like having one of those mushy girls dead gone on you. 1922D. H. Lawrence Aaron's Rod vii. 71 She liked him because of his dead-level indifference to his surroundings. 1923‘B. M. Bower’ Parowan Bonanza i. 15 ‘You're dead right, old girl,’ Bill agreed. 1930‘J. J. Connington’ Two Tickets Puzzle xiv. 222 There's no great trouble in guessing who's mixed up in the business—that's dead easy. 1930W. Gibson Hazards 12 He could always plane the deal Dead-level; ay, his work was always true. 1959J. Braine Vodi i. 22 You're mardy. You're dead mardy. 1961Simpson & Galton Hancock 43/2 Tony and Sid are dead bored. 1963D. Lessing Man & Two Women 140 ‘That's right,’ said Charlie, ‘you're dead right.’
b. Slang phr. dead to rights: (a) completely, certainly, (b) red-handed; in the act; ‘bang to rights’ (bang v.1 10). (Cf. right n.1 14.) orig. U.S.
1859G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 25 Dead to rights, positively guilty, and no way of getting clear. 1872G. P. Burnham Mem. U.S. Secret Service p. v, A brief glossary of terms in the vernacular of criminals..dead to rights, caught, with positive proof of guilt. 1881City Argus (San Francisco) 2 July 4/4 Jimmy..was caught ‘dead to rights’, and now languishes in the city Bastile. 1889Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 301/1 I've got him dead to rights. 1947‘A. A. Fair’ Fools die on Friday 189 We've got her this time dead-to-rights.
3. Directly, straight. dead against: lit. in a direction exactly opposite to one's course (so dead on end); fig. (in a way) directly or utterly opposed to. (Cf. A. 31 d.)
1800C. Sturt in Naval Chron. IV. 394 Carrying me dead upon the Shambles. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxiii, The wind and rain being dead against me. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast iv. 7 We continued running dead before the wind. 1851Dixon W. Penn ix. (1872) 77 The councillors were dead against his prayer. 1875J. C. Wilcocks Sea Fisherman 109 Observing..that..the wind was dead on end, and the sail ‘would not be a ha'porth of good’.
D. Combinations (of the adj. or n.).
1. General combs.
a. With other adjectives or participles (in adjectival or advb. const.) = ‘so as to be or seem dead, as if dead, to death, etc.’, as in dead-blanched, dead-cold, dead-drifting, dead-frozen, dead-grown, dead-heavy, dead-killing, dead-live (cf. dead-alive), dead-living, dead-seeming, dead-set, dead-sounding, dead-speaking, dead-wounded;
b. parasynthetic, as dead-coloured, dead-eyed, dead-hearted;
c. attributive combs. of the n. = ‘of the dead’, as † dead-burier, dead-land.
1879Browning Halbert & Hob 42 Temples, late black, *dead-blanched.
1535Coverdale Ezek. xxxix. 14 They shal ordene men also to be *deedburiers.
1611Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. ii. ii, Two *dead-cold aspicks.
1611Cotgr., Blaime, pale..whitish, *dead coloured.
1818Keats Endym. iii. 411 A swoon Left me *dead-drifting to that fatal power.
1570Ane Tragedie 16 in Sat. Poems Ref. (1890) I. 83 Paill of the face..*Deid eyit, dram lyke, disfigurat was he.
1594Kyd Cornelia 11. in Hazl. Dodsley V. 190 My *dead-grown joys.
1819Keats Sonn., Picture of Leander, See how his body dips *Dead-heavy.
1593Shakes. Lucr. 540 With a cockatrice *dead-killing eye. 1594― Rich. III, iv. i. 36 This dead-killing newes.
1871Tylor Prim. Cult. II. 281 Mictlanteuotli, ruler of the dismal *dead⁓land in the shades below.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 945 Th'admired Adamant, Whose *dead-live power my Reasons power doth dant.
1605Ibid. ii. iii. Lawe 694 (D.) He smot the sea with his *dead-liuing rod.
1598Ibid. ii. i. Imposture 260 *Dead-seeming coals but quick.
1820Scott Monast. iii, Her quivering lip, and *dead-set eye.
1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 42 a, Of Stones, some..are heavy and sonorous; others are..light, and *dead sounding.
1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. iv. Columnes 717 The Guide of supplest fingers On (living-dumb, *dead-speaking) sinnew-singers.
c1400Destr. Troy 6528 All þat met hym..Auther dyet of his dynttes, or were *ded wondit.
2. Special combs. dead angle (Fortif.), ‘any angle of a fortification, the ground before which is unseen, and therefore undefended from the parapet’ (Stocqueler Milit. Encycl.); dead-ball line, in Rugby Football, a line behind the goal-line, beyond which the ball is considered ‘dead’ (sense 21 a); dead-bird (see quot. 1898); † dead-birth: see birth 3 b; dead-box, a vehicle used for conveying dead bodies out of a mine; dead-burned or -burnt a., of substances obtained by calcining refractory minerals such as gypsum or limestone: heated so strongly that vitrification occurred; of lime thus produced: that does not slake readily; ˈdead-cart, a cart in which dead bodies are carried away (e.g. during pestilence); ˈdead-clothes, the clothes in which the dead are dressed; dead dipping, a process by which a ‘dead’ or dull surface is given to ornamental brass-work (Ure Dict. Arts 1875); also dead-dipped ppl. a.; dead doors (Naut.), doors fitted to the outside of the quarter-gallery doors, to keep out water in case the quarter-gallery should be carried away (Weale 1850); dead-dress = dead-clothes; dead duck slang (orig. U.S.), a person or thing that is useless, unsuccessful, bankrupt, etc.; dead earth Electr., a complete or very low-resistance connection with the earth (see quots.); dead-file = dead-smooth file; dead fin, name for the second dorsal fin of a salmon; dead finish Austral. colloq., (a) the ‘limit’ or extreme point (with regard to excellence, endurance, etc.); (b) any of several Australian trees or shrubs, esp. Albizzia basaltica or Acacia farnesiana; also, the thicket formed by such trees or shrubs; ˈdead-fire, the luminous appearance called St. Elmo's Fire, superstitiously believed to presage death; dead-flat (Naut.), that timber or frame in a ship that has the greatest breadth; the midship-bend (Weale 1850); dead-fold, a sheep-pen; dead-freight, the amount paid for that part of a vessel not occupied by cargo, when the vessel is chartered for a lump sum; dead furrow U.S., the last or finishing furrow left between ‘lands’ in ploughing; Dead Heart Austral. colloq., the remote inland area of Australia; ˈdead-hole (see quots. and cf. dead-well 1); dead horse (see horse n. 19); ˈdead-house, a building or room in which dead bodies are kept for a time, a mortuary; (see also sense A. 18 b above); dead-latch (see quot.); dead leaf, (a) the colour of a dead leaf; chiefly as adj., = feuillemorte a.; (b) Aeronaut. (see quot. 1918); dead load, (a) (see sense A. 29 above); (b) pl. (U.S. colloq.), great quantities; dead march, a piece of solemn music played at a funeral procession, esp. at a military funeral; a funeral march; dead marine (see marine n. 4 d); ˈdead-office, the office or service for the burial of the dead; dead oil, a name given to those products of the distillation of coal-tar which are heavier than water; also called heavy oil; dead-plate, an ungrated iron plate at the mouth of a furnace, on which coal is coked before being pushed upon the grate; † ˈdead-pledge = mortgage; ˈdead-ˈrising (Naut.), ‘those parts of a ship's floor or bottom, throughout her whole length, where the floor-timber is terminated upon the lower futtock’ (Falconer, Mar. Dict. 1830); ˈdead-room, a room in which dead bodies are kept; dead rope, (a) a rope that does not run in a block or pulley (Phillips 1706); cf. A. 23; (b) a bell-rope working on a half-wheel, for chiming; dead-share (see quot. 1867, and cf. dead pay); dead sheave, ‘a scored aperture in the heel of a top-mast, through which a second top-tackle pendant can be rove’ (Smyth, Sailor's Word-bk.); dead-shore (see quot.); dead-sick a., (a) as sick as one can be, prostrate with sickness; † (b) sick unto death, death-sick (common in Coverdale); † ˈdead-slayer, one guilty of manslaughter; dead-smooth a., said of the finest quality of file; dead-space: see quot.; dead stick Aeronaut. colloq. (orig. U.S.), (see quot. 1934); also attrib., as dead-stick landing, a landing made with the engine ‘dead’; dead stock, deadstock, (a) (see sense A. 20 b); (b) (see stock n.1 53 a); dead-stroke (Billiards), see quot.; ˈdead-struck, † -strooken ppl. a., struck dead; fig. struck with horror, paralyzed, etc.; † dead-sweat, the cold sweat of death: = death-sweat; dead time, (a) (see quot. 1909); (b) Physics, the period immediately after the registering of a pulse, a count, etc., when a detector or counter is not yet ready to register another pulse, etc.; ˈdead-tops, a disease of trees (see quot.); hence dead-top attrib.; dead-turn: see quot.; dead wagon U.S., a vehicle for conveying the dead; † dead wed (Sc. wad) = mortgage; dead white, dead-white, (a) flat or lustreless white; (b) absolute white; pure white; also as adj. See also following words, dead-alive to dead-work.
1892Football Calendar 1892–93 63 Not more than 25 yards behind the goal line, and parallel thereto, shall be lines, which shall be called the *Dead-Ball Lines. 1905Westm. Gaz. 30 Nov. 8/3 The necessity of lengthening the playing area to admit of the extensions behind the goals to the ‘dead-ball’ line.
1892Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker xxii. 349 Can't you give us ‘a *dead bird’ for a good trade-room? 1898Morris Austral Eng. 115/2 Dead-bird, in Australia, a recent slang term, meaning ‘a certainty’. The metaphor is from pigeon-shooting, where the bird being let loose in front of a good shot is as good as dead.
1685Cooke Marrow Chirurg. vii. ii. 269 The round [Birthwort] is..more effectual in moving speedily the Menses, *dead-Birth, and after-Birth.
1897Daily News 12 May 5/7 He arrived at the pit's mouth in the *dead-box, having fainted whilst below.
1939Iron & Steel Inst. First Rep. on Refractory Materials 64 The addition of a small proportion of *dead-burned magnesite to the chrome batch has been a common practice for many years.
1903Nature 19 Nov. 64/2 Under favourable conditions gypsum actually breaks up at 63°·5, and forms insoluble anhydrite found in nature and identical with *dead-burnt gypsum. 1904Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 151/1 Dead burnt, a term applied to lime which has become vitrified by fusion of calcium silicate in the limekiln. 1958A. D. Merriman Dict. Metall. 54/1 This causes the lime to slake very slowly, and it is then referred to as ‘dead burnt’, in contradistinction to the pure lime.
1722De Foe Plague (1840) 35 Many..were..carried away in the *dead-carts. 1887Pall Mall G. 18 Mar. 2/2 In Monte Video..the dead carts pass through the streets with dead and dying all mixed up.
1861Ramsay Remin. Ser. ii. 5 ‘Those are fine linens you have got there, Janet.’ ‘Troth, mem..they're just the gudeman's *deed claes.’ 1888Contemp. Rev. Mar. 409 The men set themselves to dig out actual catacombs, while the women made dead-clothes.
1866Timmins Industr. Hist. Birmingham 300 Burnishing..furnishes a contrast to other portions of *dead dipped work. Ibid. 299 Dead dipping..has now become the recognized mode of finish where acid is employed. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 299/2 ‘Dead’ dipping produces a beautiful frosted appearance on the work.
1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. vii. (1857) 138 Like the pointed tags that roughen a *dead-dress.
[1829N.Y. Courier 15 June 2/1 There is an old saying ‘never waste powder on a *dead duck’; but we cannot avoid flashing away a few grains upon an old friend, Henry Clay.] 1844A. Jackson Let. 7 May in M. James A. Jackson (1937) xxiii. 481 Clay [is] a dead political duck. 1867New Mexican 30 Mar. 2/2 The ‘powerful’ efforts of certain ‘dead ducks’ to prevent his appointment. 1888N.Y. Clipper (Farmer), Long Branch is said to be a dead duck. 1958‘A. Gilbert’ Death against Clock 187 Once a chap's proved innocent..he's a dead duck to the Press.
1863R. S. Culley Handbk. Pract. Telegr. vii. 105 *Dead Earth. All the current passing through the fault... No signal whatever beyond the fault. 1910Hawkins' Electr. Dict. 109/1 Dead earth, in telegraphy, a fault in the line involving a complete grounding or connection with the earth; a total earth. 1914Work 26 Sept. 490/2 When cables are earthed intentionally the connection is complete, or a ‘dead earth’. There are also ‘partial earths’ when a cable..leaks.
1865J. G. Bertram Harvest of Sea (1873) 88 About 1300 of these [salmon] were marked by cutting off the *dead or second dorsal fin..25 were marked with a silver ring behind the dead fin. Ibid. 138 Cutting off the dead fin is not thought a good plan of marking.
1881A. C. Grant Bush Life xiv, ‘He's the *dead finish—go right through a man,’ rejoins Sam, rather sulkily. 1885H. Finch-Hatton Advance Australia! xvii. 272 On the western slopes, rose-wood, myall, dead-finish, plum-tree..all woods with a fine grain suitable for cabinet-making and fancy work. 1889J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants 355 Acacia farnesiana... Sometimes called by the absurd name of ‘Dead Finish’. This name given to some species of Acacia and Albizzia, is on account of the trees or shrubs shooting thickly from the bottom, and forming an impenetrable barrier to the traveller, who is thus brought to a ‘dead finish’ (stop). 1902J. H. M. Abbott Tommy Cornstalk 64 There are few colloquialisms more expressive of wearisome disgust, dissatisfaction and discontent than is ‘Dead Finish’. It is almost synonymous with ‘the Last Straw’. 1907Daily Chron. 18 Mar. 4/4 There is a corporation which grows roses to compete with Nature's ‘dead finish’ trees. 1934Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Jan. 21/3 They were made from myall, dead finish, ringed gidya and other fancy woods. 1959C. & E. Chauvel Walkabout x. 69 If you go out that gate over there past the ‘dead finish’ tree and take the middle track you'll be right enough.
1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 15 We looked up, and saw a *dead-fire sticking to the cross-trees. ‘It's all over with us now, master,’ said I.
1897L. Robinson Wild Traits vi. 168 A sudden change of diet from the frugal fare on the hill-turf and in the ‘*dead-fold’ to that of lush cereals [etc.]. 1906G. A. B. Dewar Faery Year 32 The dead-fold is formed of wattle hurdles bound about with swathes of straw.
1730–6Bailey (folio), *Dead Freight, the Freight a Ship looses for want of being full, or the Freight paid by the Merchant, by agreement, tho' he has not sent his full Compliment of Goods on board. 1880Clause in Charter-parties, Captain or Owners to have an absolute lien on the Cargo for all Freight, Dead-freight, and Demurrage due to the ship under this Charter Party.
1838H. Colman 1st Rep. Agric. Mass. 68 It [sc. the side hill plough]..avoids a *dead furrow in the center. 1873Trans. Dep. Agric. Illinois X. 94 The land between the rows should be plowed toward the trees, so as to have the ‘dead furrow’ in the center, to allow the water to pass off freely. 1894Irrigation Age Jan. 34/2 With the discs straddling the dead furrow.
1906J. W. Gregory (title) The *dead heart of Australia. 1935F. W. Jones in H. H. Finlayson Red Centre 8 That strange and undefinable attraction that the Dead Heart always has. 1945Salt 2 July 23/1 Collective effort can radically alter the future of the so-called ‘dead-heart’ of Australia.
1856Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XVII. ii. 504 For these *dead-holes we would substitute cesspools..The open cesspools, or dead-holes, which are too frequently used.
1812J. J. Henry Campaign against Quebec 134 Many carioles..passed our dwelling loaded with the dead..to a place, emphatically, called the ‘*dead-house’. 1833Edin. Rev. LVII. 348 The keeper of the dead-house. 1850Ecclesiologist X. 339 To the right of the lich-gate we have placed the ‘Dead-House’.
1874Knight Dict. Mech., *Dead-latch, a kind of latch whose bolt may be so locked by a detent that it cannot be opened from the inside by the handle or from the outside by the latch-key.
1864M. B. Chesnut Diary 27 May (1905) 311 Brushing scant locks which were fleecy white. Her maid would be doing hers, which were *dead-leaf brown. 1896Daily News 17 Oct. 6/5 A woollen skirt of a dead-leaf shade. 1905Westm. Gaz. 21 Oct. 18/2 That delightful sort of golden browny shade that is really best described as dead leaf. Ibid., This same peculiar dead-leaf colour. Ibid., Some folds of dead-leaf-coloured crêpe de Chine. 1918E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms, Dead leaf, in aviation, the term applied to an aircraft when its movement resembles that of a falling dead leaf. 1930R. Lehmann Note in Music 35 The dead-leaf colour of the walls gave back a feeble reflection.
1869‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. lvii. 616 The old man's got *dead loads of books.
1603Knolles Hist. Turks 827 The ensigns were..let fall..a *dead march sounded, and heavy silence commanded to be kept through all the Campe. 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. xxi, That's the Dead March in Saul. They bury soldiers to it.
1858Faber Life Xavier 446 Where there was no Christian burial ground, he dug the grave with his own hands, buried them, and then recited the *Dead-Office on the spot.
1849Mansfield in Jrnl. Chem. Soc. I. 250 The heavy oil whose extrication forms the second period of the process, is technically called ‘*dead oil’. 1854Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 135 More heat [is] applied, until the distillation of the dead oil is complete. 1875Ure Dict. Arts III. 395 The dead oils..are found in the very last portions that pass in the distillation of coal-tar.
1855Lardner Museum Sc. & Art V, The fuel..should be laid on that part of the grate nearest to the fire door, called the *dead plates. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss. s.v., The gases evolved on the dead-plate pass over the grate and are burned.
1658Phillips, *Dead pledge, land or moveables pawned for money, which is to be the Creditours for ever, if the money be not repaid at the time agreed on; it is also called Mortgage.
1664E. Bushnell Compl. Shipwright 10 Then I set off the *Dead Rising. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 120 The..Stern-post, and Dead-rising up the Tuck. c1850in Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 114.
1835Willis Pencillings I. i. 16 My friend proposed to me to look into the *dead-room.
1751Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Dead ropes, in a ship, are such as are not running, i.e. do not run in any block. 1846–54Oliver Monasticon Exon. 269 Rung with a half wheel, or dead rope. 1872Ellacombe Bells of Ch. x. 359 At this time..the bells were altered from the dead rope pull to the sally.
1517in Archæologia XLVII. 311 For xviij *dedshares..at v.s. a moneth— vj. li. vj. s. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Dead-shares, an allowance formerly made to officers of the fleet, from fictitious numbers borne on the complement (temp. Henry VIII.), varying from fifty shares for an admiral, to half a share for the cook's mate.
1857J. G. Wilkinson Egyptians t. Pharaohs 112 A single square sail..raised or lowered by lifts running in *dead-sheeve holes at the top of the mast.
1823in P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 584 *Dead-shoar. 1850Weale Dict. Terms, Dead shore, a piece of timber worked up in brickwork to support a superincumbent mass until the brickwork which is to carry it has set or become hard.
1535Coverdale 2 Kings xx. 1 At that tyme was Ezechias *deedsicke. [So Isa. xxxviii. 1, John iv. 47, etc.] c1621S. Ward Life of Faith (1627) 88 When thou..(as in a Sea-sicknesse) art dead sicke for the present, remember thou shalt be the better..after.
1535Coverdale Josh. xx. 2 Fre cities..that a *deed sleyer which sleyeth a soule vnawarres..may flye thither.
1874Knight Dict. Mech. s.v., The grades [of files] are as follows:—Rough. Middle-cut. Bastard. Second-cut. Smooth. *Dead-smooth. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 79 Dead Smooth..the cut of the finest kind of file.
1887Brunton Pharmacology, etc. (ed. 3) 1100 *Dead-space: this name has been given by O. Liebreich to the part of a fluid in which no reaction occurs between substances dissolved in it... If the mixture be placed in horizontal capillary tubes the dead-space is at each end of the liquid.
1932Word Study Jan. 3/2 The use of the phrase ‘a *dead stick’ by some aviators. 1934Webster, Dead stick (Aviation), a propeller that has ceased to revolve because the engine has stopped. — dead-stick adj. 1943C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 24 Dead stick, engine stopped. 1946B. Sutton Jungle Pilot 40 Poor Jimmy had had his motor stopped and was forced to make a ‘dead stick’ landing on the aerodrome.
1836*Dead stock [see stock n.1 53 a]. 1879J. Scott Farm Valuer ix. 97 Interest is charged on the dead stock and the working cattle. 1958Times 1 July p. i/7 His capital invested in livestock, deadstock and equipment.
1873Cavendish & Bennett Billiards 193 A *dead-stroke is played by striking the white gently in the centre, or, if anything, very slightly below it.
a1593Marlowe Hero & Leander i. 121 With fear of death *dead-strooken.
1597–8Bp. Hall Sat. i. iii. (T.), [To] appall The *dead-struck audience. 1839Darley Introd. Beaum. & Fl. Wks. I. 31 Shakspeare himself scrawls bytimes with a dead-struck hand.
1609Holland Amm. Marcell. 390 Having a *dead sweat comming all over him, he died within a while after.
1909Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Dead time, time during which the active work of accomplishing a purpose is not going on, although preparations for it may be in progress. Such, in pile-driving, is the time occupied in lifting the hammer. 1949Electronic Engin. XXI. 455 There elapses about 10-4 sec., during which time a particle entering cannot initiate a count. This interval is the ‘dead-time’ for the counter. 1963B. Fozard Instrumentation Nucl. Reactors v. 44 Geiger-Mueller counters have thus an inherent ‘dead time’ and are different in this respect from other types of ionisation detector. 1966Electronics 17 Oct. 111 The sampling would be an integral part of the computer's program. It would occur many times during the wait or dead time of the tactical program.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Dead-tops, a Disease in Trees: For large Plants that upon their Removal have had their tops cut off, are apt to die from the Place they were cut off at, to the next Sprig, or Branch. a1711Ken Sion Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 320 When they saw a dead-top Oak decline.
1888S. P. Thompson Dynamo-Electr. Mach. (ed. 3) 405 In every dynamo the current..is proportional to the speed less a certain number of revolutions per second. The latter number is familiarly known as the *dead-turns.
1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 7/1 *Dead wagons, hospital ambulances and sanitary corps vehicles were the most prominent objects in the streets.
1340Ayenb. 36 Hy betakeþ hyre londes and hare eritage ine wed and *dead wed. 1609Skene Reg. Maj. 50 The secund..ane deidwad..is forbiddin in the Kings court to be made or vsed. Because it is esteemed to be ane kinde of ocker or vsurie.
1794R. Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 327 Its colour white, two opposite faces silvery white, two others *dead white, or yellowish. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 640 If it is to be finished flat, or, as the painters style it, dead white, grey, fawn, &c. 1857G. Lawrence Guy Liv. xxx, The straight, beautifully-turned ankle, cased in dead-white silk. 1863Mrs. H. Wood Verner's Pride xiv, The dead white of the roses was not more utterly colourless than Sibylla's face. 1920R. Macaulay Potterism ii. i. 67 Jane in a square-cut, high-waisted, dead white frock. 1922D. H. Lawrence England, My England (1924) 110 She turned white—dead white.
▸ slang. to be dead meat: to be dead, esp. to have been killed; to be facing certain doom; (freq. hyperbolically) to be in serious trouble.
Often in proleptic use, of one's own (or another's) likely fate.
1849E. Bennett Leni-Leoti viii. 43/1 ‘O the infarnals!’ sez Ben, jumpin up and showin blood on his noddle. ‘I'm dead meat, sartin. But I'll hev company along,’ sez he. 1865H. L. Williams Joaquin 44 Drop your belts on the ground, or you're dead meat! 1937G. Dennis Coronation Comm. 62 Other lands there are..in which those two able men would for their ability (for their views, their blood) be prisoners, or kicked pariahs, or dead meat. 1974D. Gober Black Cop 126 Without his magnum he would be dead meat in a fire fight. 2000J. Goodwin Danny Boy x. 216, I was dead meat, and I knew it, but it was too late now.
▸ dead cat bounce n. Stock Market slang (orig. U.S.) a rapid but short-lived recovery in prices after a sharp fall; a temporary upswing, esp. caused by speculators buying when prices are low and then quickly reselling when they rise; (also, in extended use) a brief improvement, a spurious success.
1985Financial Times 7 Dec. 11/5 Despite the evidence of buying interest yesterday, they said the rise was partly technical and cautioned against concluding that the recent falls in the market were at an end. ‘This is what we call a ‘*dead cat bounce’,’ one broker said flatly. 1996N.Y. Times 21 July f5/5 ‘I'm increasingly suspicious of this rebound... What we don't want is a dead-cat bounce’—when stocks rebound simply because they fell so far so fast. 2001Washington Post (Home ed.) 3 Oct. c7/3 This is what is known as a ‘dead cat bounce’... If you throw a dead cat against a wall at a high rate of speed, it will bounce—but it is still dead. Likewise, if you debut ‘Inside Schwartz’ out of the enormous ‘Friends’ debut audience, ‘Schwartz’ will do a big number—but with only about 70 percent lead-in retention, it is still a dead show.
▸ dead president n.with allusion to the portraits of statesmen found on U.S. banknotes U.S. slang a U.S. banknote; chiefly in pl.
1944D. Burley Orig. Handbk. Harlem Jive 136 *Dead President, a dollar bill, paper money of any denomination. 1970L. Rainwater Behind Ghetto Walls 330, I want me a 1965 Cadillac and some dead presidents (money) in my pocket. 1997C. B. Divakaruni Mistress of Spices 120 Carrying in their deep pockets sheaves of dead presidents..peeling off C-notes, even a couple of G's.
▸ dead tree n. and adj. colloq. (orig. Computing) (a) n. (in pl.) paper (cf. treeware n. 2); (b) adj. printed on paper; of or designating print media, as opposed to electronic media; freq. in dead tree edition.
1991E. S. Raymond New Hacker's Dict. 129 Hackers seldom read paper documentation... A common comment on this is ‘You can't grep *dead trees’. 1995Ledger (Florida) (Nexis) 24 Mar. 6 c, There's a lot here, including much material that goes beyond what's in the dead-tree edition. 1998Time 3 Aug. 77/2 Internet companies..can sell ads..much more efficiently than either TV or off-line, dead-tree media. 2004Village Voice 8 Dec. 16/1 Don't use Evite. Send out a mass bcc'ed e-mail..or invites on dead trees. 2006Guardian (Nexis) 6 Apr. 2 We shouldn't expect to see ebooks replace dead tree material.
▪ II. dead, n.2
Also 3–6 ded, dede, 4– deid.
The nothern form of death n., formerly in regular use with Northern writers (dede), and still dialectal in Scotch (deid, pronounced |diːd|, esp. in certain locutions, e.g. tired to dead (deid), to be the dead (deid) of, dead-bell, dead-candle, dead-rattle, dead-spoke, dead-thraw, etc. For examples of the simple word, see the β forms under the various senses of death n.; for the combinations see under the standard English forms death-bell, death-throe, etc.
In some instances it is difficult to decide whether dead- in combination is the n. = death, or the ordinary adj. And it is evident that later writers have often used phrases and combinations containing the n., with the notion that it was the adj. Thus dead-bell could easily be understood as the bell of the dead, or rung for the dead, dead-sweat as the sweat characteristic of the dead.
▪ III. † dead, v. Obs. exc. in local or nonce-use;|dɛd|
replaced by deaden. Forms: 1 déadian, 4–5 dede, 5–9 dead.
[OE. déadian (also adéadian) to become dead (corresp. to a Gothic *daudôn), f. déad, dead a. Branch II corresponds in sense to OE. díędan, dýdan to kill (Gothic *daudjan, Ger. tödten); but is app. only a transitive use of the original intr. vb.]
I. intr.
1. To become dead.
a. lit. To die.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. John viii. 21 And in synno iuero deadaᵹeð. [c975Rushw. Gosp., In synnum iowrum ᵹe deodiᵹað.] [c1050Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 408/6 Fatescit, adeadaþ.] c1420Pallad. on Husb. i. 752 The seed of thorn in it wol dede and dote. c1425Seven Sag. 623 (P.) The holde tre bygan to dede.
b. fig. To lose vitality, force, or vigour; to become numb; to lose heat or glow.
c1384Chaucer H. Fame ii. 44 Al my felynge gan to dede. 1626Bacon Sylva §774 Iron, as soon as it is out of the Fire, deadeth straight-ways. 1654Fuller Ephemeris Pref. 5 Their loyalty flatteth and deadeth by degrees.
2. U.S. college slang. ‘To be unable to recite; to be ignorant of the lesson; to declare one's self unprepared to recite’ (B. H. Hall College Wds. & Customs, 1856).
1848Oration before H.L. of I.O. of O.F., Be ready, in fine, to cut, to drink, to smoke, to dead.
II. trans.
3. To make dead (lit. and fig.); to cause to die; to put to death, kill, slay, destroy.
c1340Cursor M. 13070 (Fairf.) Herodias couet Iohn to dede. c1374Chaucer Boeth. iv. iv. 127 Aftir þat þe body is dedid by þe deþe. 1591Spenser Teares of Muses 210 Our pleasant Willy..is dead..With whom all joy and jolly merriment Is also deaded. 1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. 52 Tree rootes..stubbed downe to the ground, yet were they not vtterly deaded. c1624Lushington Resurr. Serm. in Phenix (1708) II. 480 This would murder His divinity, and dead His immortality. 1677Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iv. 140 By burning to set a marque, or to dead the flesh.
4. fig. To deprive of some form of vitality; to deaden:
a. To deprive of sensation or consciousness; to stupefy, benumb.
1382Wyclif 1 Sam. xxv. 37 And the herte of hym with yn forth is deed [v.r. deadyd, deadid, dedid]. 1599B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. i. iii, O my senses, Why lose you not your powers, and become Dull'd, if not deaded, with this spectacle? 1641French Distill. iv. (1651) 96 It..quickens any deaded member, as in the palsie. 1692R. L'Estrange Josephus' Antiq. vii. x, His hearing was deaded and lost.
b. To deprive of force or vigour.
1586Epit. Sidney Spenser's Wks. (Globe) 572/2 Endlese griefe, which deads my life, yet knowes not how to kill. a1631Laud Serm. (1847) 13 Let nothing dead your spirits in God's and your country's service. 1653A. Wilson Jas. I, 95 This..deaded the matter so, that it lost the Cause. 1687Shadwell Juvenal Ded. A iij b, In all Paraphrases upon the Greek and Roman Authors..the Strength and Spirit of them is deaded, and in some quite lost.
c. To render spiritually dead.
1656R. Robinson Christ all 108 Carnal security deads the heart. 1676Hale Contempl. i. (1689) 281, I have been very jealous..of wounding..or deading my conscience.
d. To make dead or insensible to something.
1612T. Taylor Comm. Titus. i. 7 Drunkennes is..an oppressing, and deading of it [the heart] unto dutie. 1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. (1669) 175/1 The sense of this Gospel-peace will dead the heart to the creature.
5. To deprive of its active or effective physical quality; to deaden, make ‘dead’, extinguish.
1611Cotgr., Buffeté..deaded, as wine that hath taken wind, or hath beene mingled with water. 1626Bacon Sylva §158 If a Bell hath Cloth or Silk wrapped about it, it deadeth the Sound more. 1652J. Wright tr. Camus' Nature's Paradox 100 The Ashes of Love, whose coals were deaded on a sodain. 1657W. Coles Adam in Eden i, [Walnut oil] is better for Painters' use to illustrate a white colour than Linseed Oyl, which deadeth it. 1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) V. 163 Common Prey so deads her Dart, It scarce can wound a noble Game. 1748Thomson Cast. Indol. i. lxvi, When..thy toils..Shall dead thy fire, and damp its heavenly spark.
6. To check, retard (motion or force); to destroy the force or effect of (a missile, etc.).
1602Carew Cornwall 155 b, Great trusses of hay..to blench the defendants sight, and dead their shot. 1626Bacon Sylva §15 Yet it doth not dead the Motion. 1663Pepys Diary 15 Apr., Which..in dry weather, turns to dust and deads the ball. 1670Phil. Trans. V. 2067 The wind was at South-East; which deads the Tydes there.
7. U.S. college slang. ‘To cause one to fail in reciting. Said of a teacher who puzzles a scholar with difficult questions, and thereby causes him to fail’ (B. H. Hall College Wds. & Customs, 1856).
1884J. Hawthorne in Harper's Mag. Aug. 386/2 Whose..enquiry, ‘What is ethics?’ had deaded so many a promising..student.
▪ IV. dead
obs. form of deed. |