deadadj.n.adv.
/dɛd/, U.S. /dɛd/ A. adj.The compar. deader and superl. deadest are in use where the sense permits; chiefly in transferred and figurative senses (e.g. A. 4, A. 16).
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:1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Rom. v. 15 If thorw the gilt of oone many ben deed [ἀπέθανον: Rhem. & R.V. ‘many died’].1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet v. iii. 209 Dread Souereigne, my Wife is dead to night. View more context for this quotation1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xxiv. 287 Your eldest daughters haue foredoome themselues, And desperatly are dead. View more context for this quotationc1676 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 34 Lord Chesterfields lady is dead in her child-bed month.1784 S. Johnson Let. 26 June (1994) IV. 336 Macbean, after three days of illness, is dead of a suppression of urine.1803 T. Beddoes Hygëia III. xi. 75 (note) I heard..that he was dead of scarlet fever.a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 6688 Qua smites his thain wit a wand, And he be deid vnder his hand.a1464 J. Capgrave Abbreuiacion of Cron. (Cambr. Gg.4.12) (1983) 208 Condempned to be ded as a tretour.1477 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Hist. Jason (1913) 12 Howe many men &..women haue ben slayn & ded by thy poysons.c1480 (a1400) St. Andrew 8 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 63 For one þe cors bath ded þai were.
a. of men and animals.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [adjective]
deadOE
lifelessOE
of lifeOE
storvena1225
dead as a door-nail1362
ydead1387
stark deadc1390
colda1400
bypast1425
perishedc1440
morta1450
obita1450
unquickc1449
gone?a1475
dead and gone1482
extinct1483
departed1503
bygonea1522
amort1546
soulless1553
breathless1562
parted1562
mortified1592
low-laid1598
disanimate1601
carcasseda1603
defunct1603
no morea1616
with God1617
death-stricken1618
death-strucken1622
expired1631
past itc1635
incinerated1657
stock-dead1662
dead as a herring1664
death-struck1688
as dead as a nit1789
(as) dead as mutton1792
low1808
laid in the locker1815
strae-dead1820
disanimated1833
ghosted1834
under the daisies1842
irresuscitable1843
under the sod1847
toes up1851
dead and buried1863
devitalized1866
translated1869
dead and done (for, with)1886
daid1890
bung1893
(as) dead as the (or a) dodo1904
six feet under1942
brown bread1969
OE Beowulf 467 Ða wæs Heregar dead, min yldra mæg.
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) ix. 24 Nys þys mæden dead.
1154 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1135 Þat ilc ȝær warth þe king ded.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 9595 Hire lauerd wes dæd [c1300 Otho dead].
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 6130 Na hus..þat þar ne was ded [Trin. Cambr. deed, Gött. dede] man ligand.
a1400 Poems Vernon MS. 534 Better is a quik and an hol hounde Þen a ded lyon.
1458 in J. H. Parker Some Acct. Domest. Archit. (1859) III. 41 To drawe a deed body out of a lake.
1599 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet v. i. 6 I dreamt my Lady came and found me dead . View more context for this quotation
1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iv. vii. 135 Where thou wilt hit me dead . View more context for this quotation
1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall Digress. 360 The Bird..within about a minute more would be stark dead.
1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 275 He was shot dead.
1795 E. Burke Corr. IV. 239 Dead men, in their written opinions, are heard with patience.
1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam lxxii. 101 As sometimes in a dead man's face..A likeness..Comes out—to some one of his race. View more context for this quotation
b. of plants.
ΚΠ
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Jude 12 Heruest trees with outen fruyt, twies deede, drawun up bi the roote.
1521 Bp. J. Fisher Wks. (1876) 326 As a deed stoke, a tree withouten lyfe.
1855 Ld. Tennyson Maud iii, in Maud & Other Poems 13 I..found The shining daffodil dead.
c. of parts or organs of animals or plants. See also deadhead n.1 6.
ΚΠ
c1000 Ælfric Interrog. Sigewulfi (Anglia VII. 30) Mid ðam deadum fellum.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvi. xciv. 876 Salt freteþ away dede fleissh.
1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope v. x He had kytte awey the dede braunches fro the tre.
1561 R. Eden in tr. M. Cortés Arte Nauigation Pref. sig. ⁋.iiv Vnsensate by reason of dead fleshe.
1643 J. Steer tr. Fabricius Exper. Chyrurg. vii. 27 If..the skin be burnt dead.
1787 C. B. Trye in Med. Communications 2 154 The absorbents will remove very little of dead bone.
1821 P. B. Shelley Adonais xvi. 12 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [noun] > that which is useless > useless person or thing
cumber-worldc1374
cumber-house1541
deaf nut1613
cumber-ground1657
dead duck1844
no good1871
dead wood1877
dead wood1887
blue duck1889
dud1897
cluck1904
non-starter1911
dead loss1927
dreep1927
write-off1935
no-gooder1936
nogoodnik1936
blivet1967
roadkill1990
1877 Encycl. 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.
e. 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’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > [verb (intransitive)] > be dead
sleepc950
restOE
liea1000
to be deadc1000
to lie lowa1275
layc1300
to be gathered to one's fathersa1382
to be gathered to one's fathers1382
to sup with our Saviour, with Our (the) Lord, with (Jesus) Christa1400
repose1586
slumber1594
to sup in heaven or hell1642
to turn one's toes up to the daisies1842
to be out of the way1881
to push up daisiesa1918
to have had it1942
RIP1962
the world > life > death > killing > kill [verb (intransitive)] > be killed
to be deadc1000
fallOE
spilla1300
suffera1616
to fall (a) prey (also victim, sacrifice) toa1774
to lose the number of one's mess1807
to go up1825
to get his (also hers, theirs)1903
to cop (also stop, catch, get, etc.) a packet1916
click1917
not to know (or to wonder) what hit one1923
to get the works1928
to go for a burton1941
(to get) the chop or chopper1945
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xxii. 24 Gif hwa dead syg, & bearn næbbe.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 100 After þa feourðe ȝere he was dead.
1388 Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) 2 Cor. v. 14 If oon died for alle, thanne alle weren deed [R.V. then all died].
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 14269 Alle that lyuen & trowen me Deed shul þei neuer be.
c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 148 Soore wepte she if oon of hem weere deed.
1557 Earl of Surrey et al. Songes & Sonettes sig. X.i I will be dead at once To do my Lady good.]
2. Bereft of sensation or vitality; benumbed, insensible.
a. Of parts of the body. (Also figurative)See also dead palsy n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > physical insensibility > [adjective]
unfeelingc1000
dead?c1225
unwitlessc1225
insensiblec1400
unfeelablec1400
unfredeablec1450
insensate?1520
blatea1522
deaf?1527
unsensible1531
inanimatea1555
senseless1557
unsensate1561
sleeping1562
insensitive1610
unsensitive1610
torpid1613
inanimated1646
torpent1647
unperceptive1668
feelless1684
insentient1764
unsentient1768
sensationless1824
apathic1835
non-sensitive1836
zombie-like1932
zombie-esque1946
zomboid1963
zombied1972
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 88 A lutel hurt in þe echȝe. derueð mare þen amuchel iþe hele for þe flesch is deadre.
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) iv. i. 77 Thynges that be deed and dystroyed wyth colde.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. vii. sig. G The messenger of so vnhappie newes, Would faine haue dyde: dead was his hart within.
1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 4 They take Serpents in the Winter time, when they growe dead and stiffe through cold.
1806 Coleridge in Flagg Life W. Allston (1893) 77 My head felt like another man's head; so dead was it [etc.].
1893 J. Hutchinson Archives Surg. No. 12 III. 311 The liability to ‘dead fingers’.
1893 J. Hutchinson Archives Surg. No. 12 III. 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. Obsolete. Also of sleep, a faint.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > physical insensibility > unconsciousness > [adjective] > fainting or in a swoon
swownc1000
deadc1369
swoonc1450
swounding1570
deficient1608
tranced1608
sounding1621
swooning1646
fainted1847
to go out like a light1909
c1369 G. Chaucer Bk. Duchesse 127 She..Was wery, and thus the ded slepe Fil on hir.
1583 P. Barrough Methode of Phisicke i. xx. 30 Coma..may be called in Englishe dead sleepe.
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Sópore, a dead swoune, deepe sleepe or drousie sicknes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) v. i. 233 We were dead of sleepe. View more context for this quotation
1667 S. Pepys Diary 7 Feb. (1974) VIII. 48 He was fallen down all along upon the ground, dead..He did presently come to himself.
1752 H. Fielding Amelia I. iii. ix. 244 We there beheld the most shocking Sight imaginable; Miss Bath lying dead on the Floor..Miss Bath was, at length, recovered.
1894 N.E.D. at Dead Mod. She fell on the floor in a dead faint.
c. proleptically, who is ‘as good as dead’, certain to die or to be killed, past recovery.
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iv. ii. 38 Why then you are vtterly sham'd, & hee's but a dead man. View more context for this quotation
1906 Daily Chron. 9 Aug. 8/5 He could not tell her bluntly..that Wilson was practically a dead man.
d. In hyperbolical phrases expressing extreme fatigue or indisposition.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > weariness or exhaustion > [adjective]
wearyc825
asadc1306
ateyntc1325
attaintc1325
recrayed1340
methefula1350
for-wearya1375
matea1375
taintc1380
heavy1382
fortireda1400
methefula1400
afoundered?a1425
tewedc1440
travailedc1440
wearisomec1460
fatigate1471
defatigatec1487
tired1488
recreant1490
yolden?1507
fulyeit?a1513
traiked?a1513
tavert1535
wearied1538
fatigated1552
awearya1555
forwearied1562
overtired1567
spenta1568
done1575
awearied1577
stank1579
languishinga1586
bankrupt?1589
fordone1590
spent1591
overwearied1592
overworn1592
outworn1597
half-dead1601
back-broken1603
tiry1611
defatigated1612
dog-wearya1616
overweary1617
exhaust1621
worn-out1639
embossed1651
outspent1652
exhausted1667
beaten1681
bejaded1687
harassed1693
jaded1693
lassate1694
defeata1732
beat out1758
fagged1764
dog-tired1770
fessive1773
done-up1784
forjeskit1786
ramfeezled1786
done-over1789
fatigued1791
forfoughten1794
worn-up1812
dead1813
out-burnta1821
prostrate1820
dead beat1822
told out1822
bone-tireda1825
traiky1825
overfatigued1834
outwearied1837
done like (a) dinner1838
magged1839
used up1839
tuckered outc1840
drained1855
floored1857
weariful1862
wappered1868
bushed1870
bezzled1875
dead-beaten1875
down1885
tucked up1891
ready (or fit) to drop1892
buggered-up1893
ground-down1897
played1897
veal-bled1899
stove-up1901
trachled1910
ragged1912
beat up1914
done in1917
whacked1919
washy1922
pooped1928
shattered1930
punchy1932
shagged1932
shot1939
whipped1940
buggered1942
flaked (out)1942
fucked1949
sold-out1958
wiped1958
burnt out1959
wrung out1962
juiced1965
hanging1971
zonked1972
maxed1978
raddled1978
zoned1980
cream crackered1983
1813 A. Milbanke Diary (MS.) At home dead.
1894 Pall Mall Mag. Feb. 583 I'm nearly dead from being boxed up in the house all day.
1915 W. 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.
1962 J. Braine Life at Top xiv. 185 ‘It doesn't matter who started it now,’ I yawned. ‘Honestly, I'm dead on my feet, Susan.’
1970 P. Carlon Death by Demonstration xvi. 175 One job's enough. Come evening and I'm dead on my feet usually.
e. Of pain: dull and continuous, as opposed to sharp and sudden pain.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > types of pain > [adjective] > aching
workingOE
warkingc1340
dull1725
nagging1836
dead1863
achy1864
1863 T. B. Curling Observ. Dis. Rectum (ed. 3) iv. 24 He complained of suffering from a dead, aching pain.
1894 H. H. Gardener Unofficial 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.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > absence of emotion > [adjective] > emotionally unaffected
dead1340
unsmittenc1400
unmovedc1480
unkindleda1525
senseless1560
lumpish1585
unfired1590
unaffectedc1595
incapable1601
unsensible1611
insensible1615
untouched1616
impervious1618
unanswering1632
untransported1641
beauty-proof1676
insensate1726
unsusceptible1734
uninfluenced1735
unimbued1813
unsmote1814
unsusceptive1825
unalive1828
echoless1869
non-conducting1871
unsusceptible1872
irresponsive1886
affectless1912
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 240 He ssel by dyead to þe wordle, and libbe to god.
1601 J. Marston et al. Iacke Drums Entertainm. i. sig. B3v You are dead to natiue pleasures life.
1647 N. Bacon Hist. Disc. Govt. 183 He that is in a Monastery is dead to all worldly affaires.
1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World vii. 224 Obstinate fellows who were dead to reason.
1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab v. 60 Sensual, and vile; Dead to all love.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People 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.
ΚΠ
1710 A. Pope Corr. 17 May (1956) I. 87 Dead in a Poetical Capacity, as a damn'd Author; and dead in a Civill Capacity, as a useless Member of the Commonwealth.
1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Dead..In law, cut off from the rights of a citizen..as one banished or becoming a monk is civilly dead. Blackstone.
c. Colloquial phrase dead to the world: unconscious or fast asleep; unaware of the external world.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > [adjective] > asleep > deeply or fast asleep
fastOE
sound asleep1597
dead to the world1899
1899 G. Ade Doc' Horne ii. 19 Our host is dead to the world,’ observed the actor... ‘Let him rest,’ said Doc'.
1906 E. 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’.
1906 Dial. Notes 3 ii. 133 Dead to the world, unconscious. ‘He fell down and was dead to the world for a while.’
1955 E. Hillary High Adventure 166 He stumbled and fell slowly on to his face and lay there—dead to the world!
1957 G. Frick tr. ‘M. Yourcenar’ 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.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > soul > [adjective] > unwell in
dead1382
soul-sick1553
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Ephes. ii. 1 Whanne ȝe weren deede in ȝoure giltis and synnes.
1534 Bible (Tyndale rev. Joye) 1 Tim. v. 6 She that liveth in pleasure, is deed even yet alive.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan i. viii. 35 To have no Desire, is to be Dead.
1668 J. Howe Blessedness of Righteous Disc. (1825) 206 How often are men the deader for all endeavours to quicken them.
1793 W. Cowper in Yearly Bill Mortality Parish All-Saints (Northampton) 1792–3 (single sheet) He lives, who lives to God alone, And all are dead beside.
1884 J. Parker Apostolic Life III. 111 There is no deader thing unburied..in many places, than the professing Church of Christ.
5. figurative. 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 n.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [adjective] > no longer existent
ceased1556
vanished1594
deada1616
no morea1616
defunct1741
evanished1829
inextant1831
the world > time > relative time > the past > [adjective] > firmly in the past or done with
dead and gone1482
deada1616
dead for adoa1638
dead and buried1863
dead and done (for, with)1886
a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) ii. vi. 28 My Loue to her is dead . View more context for this quotation
1641 J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper i. 71 These..are dead tenets and opinions.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 285. ¶5 The Works of Ancient Authors, which are written in dead Languages.
1851 Ld. Tennyson Princess (ed. 4) vii. 174 My doubts are dead.
1861 A. Beresford-Hope Eng. Cathedral of 19th Cent. 167 The lapse from vernacular to dead tongue services.
1884 J. Sharman Cursory Hist. Swearing vi. 102 Seeking to revive this dead past.
** Said of things naturally without life.
6.
a. Not endowed with life; inanimate.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > absence of life or consciousness > [adjective]
lifelessOE
unlivingOE
bloodless and bonelessOE
deadlya1225
dead1430
natureless1548
exanimate1552
inanimatea1555
unlively1563
spiritless1570
unquickened1610
unanimate1615
inanimal1623
inanimated1646
unvital1661
unanimated1697
unbreathing1709
unconscious1744
pulseless1820
azoic1854
not-living1869
abiotic1873
unvitalized1874
1430 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 85 Alle necessarijs longynge to housold of dede store.
a1535 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. (1557) 1274/1 He made it haue a beyng, as hathe the dead stone.
1636 R. Sanderson Serm. II. 57 Shooting sometimes at a dead mark.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 519. ¶6 There are some living Creatures which are raised but just above dead Matter.
a1856 H. Miller Testimony of Rocks (1857) 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. c1380 there are also associations with branch A. III.
ΚΠ
c1380 J. Wyclif 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.† 9. Causing death, deadly, mortal. Obsolete.
7. Composed of dead plants, or of dead wood, as a dead hedge or fence (opposed to quickset).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > closed or shut condition > that which or one who closes or shuts > a barrier > [noun] > hedge or fence > a hedge > dead hedge
a dead hedge or fence1563
1563 T. Hill Arte Gardening (1593) 7 A..rude inclosure..made of..bushes hauing no life, which wee name a dead hedge.
1686 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Staffs. ix. 357 For a dead-fence, none..better..than those heathy-turf walls.
1729 J. Douglass in Philos. Trans. 1727–8 (Royal Soc.) 35 567 The Fences consist of what they call dead Hedges, or Hurdles to keep out..Cattle.
1805 R. Forsyth 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > [adjective] > relating to death
mortalc1425
deadly1470
capitalc1475
mortuary1542
parting?1570
deada1586
defunctive1601
lethal1607
deathly1763
deathya1822
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. ix. sig. T4 The tombe..which they caused to be made for them with..notable workmanship, to preserue their deade liues.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) v. vii. 65 You breath these dead newes in as dead an eare. View more context for this quotation
1662 R. Mathews Unlearned Alchymist (new ed.) §89. 140 His water [was] shewn to two Doctors, whose judgement was that it was a dead water; and..he would die that night.
1712 J. James tr. A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville Theory & Pract. Gardening 173 It is more difficult to make Plants grow in Gaps and dead Places, than in a new Spot.
1791 W. Combe Devil upon Two Sticks V. xvii. 28 It is what the medical people call a dead case..a consultation..to discover the disorder of which their patient died.
1846 J. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > cause of death > [adjective]
deadlyc893
deathlyOE
deathfula1250
mortalc1390
capitalc1426
exitialc1475
fey1488
mortuala1500
perishinga1500
fatal?1518
ferial1528
mortiferousa1538
deadc1540
exitious?1545
deathlike1548
mortifying1555
starvingc1600
lethal1604
speedingc1604
vital1612
irrecoverable1614
feral1621
lethiferous1651
mortific1651
mortifical1657
daggering1694
exitiose1727
fateful1764
kill-devil1831
unsurvivable1839
lethiferal1848
tachythanatous1860
c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 1339 In a ded hate.
c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 11017 Pyrrus..come..Þat doghty to dere with a dede stroke.
1606 N. Breton Choice, Chance, & Change sig. K2v Beares a dead wound but as a little stripe.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 434 Thou Churle, for this time (Though full of our displeasure) yet we free thee From the dead blow of it. View more context for this quotation
10. Devoid of ‘life’ or living organisms; hence, barren, infertile, yielding nothing. (Cf. B. 4.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > soil qualities > [adjective] > infertile
unbearingc825
geasonOE
unkindc1330
barren1377
unfructuousa1382
poora1387
leanc1420
exile?1440
salt1535
unfruitful?1542
sterile1572
dead1577
unlusty1580
queasy1593
heartless1594
unfertile1596
emacerated1610
sapless1655
unprolific1672
uncivil1676
ungrateful1681
worn1681
teemless1687
unproductive1725
poorish1767
ill-conditioned1796
scanty1797
rammelly1808
starve-acre1891
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 21v Though the land be as riche as may be, yet yf you goe any deapth, you shall haue it barren [margin Dead mould].
1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 186 You cannot dig many spades in mold or growthsom earth, before you come at a dead soyl.
1747 W. Hooson Miners Dict. sig. Gijb Dead [is] where there is no Ore..Deads are the Gear or Work got in such dead Places.
1806 R. Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 57 A rich friable clay on a bottom of dead sand.
1820 W. Scoresby Acct. Arctic Regions II. 211 The parallel of 77° to 77½° is considered a ‘dead latitude’ by the fishers, but occasionally it affords whales.
1874 E. H. Knight Pract. 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.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > coldness > extinguishing fire > [adjective]
dead1340
slockenc1400
extinct?a1475
extinguished1552
outgone1647
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 205 A quic col bernide ope ane hyeape of dyade coles.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 212/2 Deed cole, charbon.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) v. i. 68 Starres, Starres, And all eyes else, dead coales. View more context for this quotation
1640 tr. J. A. Comenius Janua Linguarum Reserata (new ed.) v. §46 Wood burning is called a fire-brand; being quenched..a dead brand.
1833 H. Coleridge Sonn. xviii The crackling embers on the hearth are dead.
1884 Illustr. London 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. ? Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > taste and flavour > insipidity > [adjective]
wallowc897
smatchless?c1225
unsavoury?c1225
fresha1398
savourlessa1398
wearish1398
wershed1398
fond?c1430
unsavoured1435
palled1440
mildc1450
walsh1513
wallowish1548
dead1552
waterish1566
cold1585
flatten1594
seasonless1595
wersha1599
blown1600
flash1601
fatuous1608
tasteless1611
flat1617
insipid1620
ingustable1623
flashy1625
flatted1626
saltless1633
gustless1636
remiss1655
rheumatical1655
untasteable1656
vapid1656
exolete1657
distasted1662
vappous1673
insulse1676
toothless1679
mawkisha1697
intastable1701
waugh1703
impoignant1733
flavourless1736
instimulating1740
deadish1742
mawky1755
brineless1791
wishy-washy1791
keestless1802
shilpit1814
wish-washy1814
sapidless1821
silent1826
slushy1839
bland1878
spendsavour1879
wish-wash1896
dolled1917
spiceless1980
the world > food and drink > drink > types or qualities of beverage > [adjective] > stale or flat
dead1552
blown1600
flat1617
dolled1917
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Dead, pale, or vinewed to be, as wyne which hath lost his verdure, muceo.
1574 J. Baret Aluearie D 116 Deade & vnsauourie salte.
1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden sig. P3 A cup of dead beere, that had stood pawling by him in a pot three dayes.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 553 If..it [sc. musk] lose the sauor and be dead.
1664 J. Evelyn Pomona Advt. It will not ferment at all, and then the Cider will be dead, flat, and soure.
1761 J. Wesley Primitive Physick (ed. 9) 63 Dip a soft Rag in dead small Beer.
b. dead lime: opposed to quicklime n.; dead steam, exhausted steam.
ΚΠ
1831 Mechanics' Mag. 16 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.
1874 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Dead steam.
c. Of a circuit, conductor, etc.: carrying or transmitting no current; not connected to a source of electricity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > transmission of electricity, conduction > [adjective] > carrying no current
dead1903
1903 A. H. Beavan Tube, Train, Tram, & Car xi. 134 The studs are ‘alive’ while the car is over them, and ‘dead’ as soon as it has passed.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 13 July 5/2 There was another stoppage..caused by a ‘dead’ car.
1929 D. Hammett Dain Curse (1930) xi. 109 The phone was there, but dead.
1937 D. M. Jones In Parenthesis v. 112 Every telephonist with a dead instrument about his ears.
1968 Globe & 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. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > skin > complexion > paleness > [adjective]
blatec1000
whiteOE
greena1275
blakec1275
bleykea1300
wana1300
palec1330
bleach1340
pale and wan (wan and pale)c1374
colourlessc1380
deadlyc1385
deadc1386
bloodlessc1450
earthlyc1460
ruddylessc1460
wan visaged?a1513
wanny1555
as pale or white as a clout1557
bleak1566
mealy1566
pale-faced1570
ghastly1574
white-faced1577
bleakish1581
pallid1590
whiggish1590
tallow-faced1592
maid-pale1597
lily1600
whey-colour1602
lew1611
roseless1611
Hippocratical1615
cadaverousa1661
Hippocratic1681
smock-faced1684
white-looked1690
livid1728
as white (or pale) as a sheet1752
squalid1753
deathly1791
etiolated1791
light-skinned1802
suety1803
shilpit1813
blanched1828
tallowy1830
suet-faced1834
pasty1836
tallowish1838
whey-faced1847
pasty-faced1848
aghast1850
waxen1853
complexionless1863
light-skin1877
lily-cheeked1877
lardy1879
wan-faced1881
exsanguinous1889
wheatish1950
c1386 G. Chaucer Doctor's Tale 209 With a face deed as aisshen colde.
c1430 J. Lydgate tr. Bochas Fall of Princes iii. xx. 91 b With pale and dead visage.
?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 52 I drup with a ded luke in my dule habit.
a1566 R. Edwards Damon & Pithias (1571) sig. Hij Why is thy colour so dead?
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. iii. 170 Honest Iago, that lookes dead with grieuing. View more context for this quotation
1668 J. Dryden Secret-love iii. i. 26 The dead colour of her face.
b. Of colour, etc.: Without brightness, dull, lustreless. (See also dead colour n.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > quality of colour > [adjective] > dull
fadec1290
wannish?a1412
obscure1490
sada1539
dull1552
smoky1576
sober1603
dead1640
dirty1665
invivid1669
dusty1676
saddisha1678
austere1680
worn-out1731
sombrous1792
sombre1805
toneless1833
lacklustre1843
the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > dimness or absence of brightness > [adjective] > not lustrous
lacklustrea1616
dead1640
sourd1659
matta1665
unlustrious1709
unlustrous1733
glossless1849
glistenless1854
sheenless1883
1640 J. Parkinson Theatrum Botanicum 483 Such like flowers, but of a sadder or deader colour.
1720 D. Defoe Life Capt. Singleton 146 A thick Moss..of a blackish dead Colour.
1805 R. Jameson Treat. External Characters Minerals 5 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.
1855 G. Brimley Ess. (1858) i. 59 The deader green of ordinary foliage.
1874 E. H. Knight Pract. 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.
1883 J. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > non-resonance > [adjective]
deada1533
sullen1599
wooden1609
flat1626
shallow1626
lumpish1742
dowf1768
toneless1773
deadish1783
insonorous1795
tubby1807
veiled1816
puffy1832
narrow-toned1865
woolly1872
woody1875
dull1878
irresonant1899
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) lxvii. sig. Qv The lady called them again, but..very softely, for it was with a dead voice.
1574 J. Baret Aluearie D 115 Ones voice..neither dead in sowne, nor ouer shrill.
1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall xxvii. 209 The Bell seem'd to sound more dead.
1675 A. Wood Life & Times (1892) II. 332 They being so cast, severall were found to be ugly dead bells.
1712 F. Tanner Plainest, Easiest, & Prettiest Method Short-hand 5 The sound of D being like a flat dead T.
1783 Blagden in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 73 332 A solid..metallic mass..yielding a dull dead sound like that metal [lead].
1847 M. M. Sherwood Fairchild Family III. viii. 110 A dead sound of some heavy, though soft body, in the..act of falling.
b. Acoustics. Allowing little or no reverberation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > non-resonance > [adjective] > of acoustics
dead1907
dry1961
1907 Science 26 879/2 The small room..when closed..also serves to act as a dead air space between the larger room and the building wall.
1923 R. Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics IV. 694/2 A room considered to be right for speech may be just a little too dead for music.
1930 Bell Syst. Techn. Jrnl. 9 596 (heading) Reverberation Time in ‘Dead’ Rooms.
1930 Bell Syst. Techn. Jrnl. 9 596 With the advent of radio broadcasting and sound pictures very ‘dead’ rooms have been built.
1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ii. 33 To do away with reverberation entirely and try to create entirely ‘dead’ studios.
1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ii. 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 doors n. at Compounds 2, dead-eye n., dead-light n. 1, dead well n. 2.)
ΚΠ
1806 R. Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 381 A..bridge..over the water of Bervie, the dead arches of which have been fitted up as a town-hall.
1874 E. H. Knight Pract. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > [adjective] > lacking animation
deadOE
lifelessOE
unquickc1475
exanimate?c1550
flat1604
unsprighty1607
spiritless1609
dead-alive1617
fireless1647
uninformed1709
inanimate1713
unanimated1734
nerveless1735
inanimated1753
dispirited1758
dead and alive1863
unalive1905
pepless1909
zipless1922
soggy1928
undead1936
OE Seafarer 65 Forþon me hatran sind dryhtnes dreamas þonne þis deade lif, læne on londe.
c1422 T. Hoccleve Learn to Die 714 Where is your help now, where is your chiertee?..al as deed is as a stoon?
1579 L. Tomson tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. S. Paule to Timothie & Titus 691/1 To shewe that wee are Gods true seruants we must not go to work with a dead hand (as the prouerb is).
1646 H. Lawrence Of Communion & Warre with Angels 167 Patience without hope is the deadest thing in the world.
c1665 L. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1973) To Children 5 Or can be gather'd from a bare dead description.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 405 How cold and dead does a Prayer appear..when it is not heightened by that Solemnity of Phrase, which may be drawn from the Sacred Writings.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits iv. 56 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.
ΚΠ
1864 Baily's Monthly 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.
1868 London Rev. 11 July 38/2 The stable and owners might safely lay against what was technically a ‘dead 'un’ from the first.
1880 H. Smart Social Sinners v Lord, what ‘dead 'uns’ he did back, to be sure!
1922 Notes & Queries 12th Ser. 11 206/2 Dead meat. Horses which are not out to win are so described.
c. Lacking resiliency or springiness; esp. of turf.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > hardness > types of hardness > [adjective] > inelastic
unspringy1673
non-elastic1728
unelastic1728
inelastic1749
dump1852
irresilient1855
dead1870
wooden1897
unsprung1928
1870 N.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.
1895 H. W. W. Wilberforce Lawn Tennis ix. 29 This form of game..arose from the very wet and dead state of the courts.
1909 P. 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.
1930 Morning 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 n. 1.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > [adjective] > ineffective
deadc1380
virtuelessa1393
uneffectuous1549
inefficace1570
limping1577
unprevailing1604
inficient1609
weak1609
unofficious1611
penny farthing1615
invalidable1634
invalid1635
unprevalent1640
ineffectible1650
ineffective1651
inefficacious1658
insignificant1661
uneffective1670
popgun1690
foible1715
unefficacious1744
inefficient1750
ineffectual1785
effete1790
foisonlessc1817
puttering1857
non-effective1862
non-efficient1863
shaftless1881
powder puff1911
fouled-up1942
c1380 J. Wyclif Wks. (1880) 22 Ȝif it be ded feiþ as fendis han.
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 3 Seynt Jam seiþ, Feiþ wiþ outun werkis is deed.
1548 in Vicary's Anat. Bodie of Man (1888) App. iii. 133 Good and necessarye ordres..with-out the which, all lawes and ordenaunces..ar butt baryn, ded, and vayne.
1647 N. Bacon Hist. Disc. Govt. 50 Nor was this a dead word, for the people had formerly a tricke of deposing their Kings.
1842 J. H. Newman Parochial 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.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > inaudibility > [adjective] > silent
coyc1330
stone-still1338
quietc1384
softa1393
peacec1400
swownc1400
tongueless1447
clumc1485
mutec1500
whist1513
silent1542
dead1548
husht1557
whisted1557
whust1558
whust1558
whisht1570
huisht1576
quiet (also mum, mute, still, etc.) as a mouse (in a cheese)1584
fordead1593
noiseless1608
whisha1612
dumba1616
soundlessa1616
st1655
silentish1737
defta1763
sleeping1785
untoned1807
mousy1812
soughless1851
deathlike1856
whisperless1863
deathly1865
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cvij In the dedde tyme of the night.
1573 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 12 It was in the deadist time of winter.
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 637 Barbarussa..came in the dead time of Winter to Aleppo.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iv. ii. 62 'Tis now dead midnight. View more context for this quotation
1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea I. xiv. 278 The dead hours of the night.
b. Of a house: uninhabited. slang.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > [adjective] > not > empty or unoccupied
emptyOE
unoccupied1425
void1479
vacant1518
waste1574
distenanted1594
tenantlessa1616
empse1642
untenanted1677
dead1879
1879 J. W. Horsley in Macmillan's Mag. 40 505/2 Me and the screwsman went to Gravesend, and I found a dead 'un (uninhabited house).
1896 A. Morrison Child of Jago 231 On the look out for a dead 'un.
1922 Daily Mail 8 Aug. 2/2 We thought it was a ‘dead’ house, but we walked into a girl's room and she squealed.
c. Military. 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 n. at Compounds 2.)
ΚΠ
1899 Westm. 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.
1900 Daily News 5 May 3/2 A high and rather steep hill, surrounded by a good deal of ‘dead’ ground.
1919 Proc. Soc. Antiquaries Scotl. 53 38 There is not a single piece of ‘dead’ ground in the whole fortress.
19. Without alertness or briskness, inert.
ΚΠ
1884 St. 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 seasons, trade, etc.). Of a locality, etc. : that has lost its former prosperity or glory.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > [adjective] > characterized by inaction or inactivity > specifically of places, seasons, trade, etc.
dead1581
languid1728
flat1831
1581 B. Rich Farewell Mil. Profession (Shaks. Soc.) 11 Traffique is so dead by meanes of thes foraine broiles, that [etc.].
1615 J. Stephens Ess. & Characters (new ed.) 193 As much leasure..in the most busie Terme, as in the deadest Vacation.
1665 T. H. Exact Surv. Affaires Netherlands 25 Complaints against dead Trade.
1676 W. Temple Let. to Sir W. Godolphin in Wks. (1731) II. 395 This Place is now as dead as I have seen any great Town.
1759 S. Johnson Idler 5 May 137 Some [publishers] never had known such a dead time.
a1777 S. Foote Cozeners (1778) ii. 30 The town is thin, and business begins to grow dead.
1875 A. Wood (title) The Dead Cities of the Zuyder Zee: a Voyage to the Picturesque Side of Holland, from the French of Henry Harvard.
1883 J. A. Froude in Lett. & Memorials J. W. Carlyle I. 59 It was the dead season; but there were a few persons still in London.
1909 Daily Chron. 13 Apr. 4/5 My memory lingered with the people in the ‘dead cities’ [of Holland] who had spent their Easter with old-world simplicity.
b. Of capital or stock: Lying commercially inactive or unemployed, unproductive.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > [adjective] > profitable > not profitable or interest-bearing
dead1571
unprofitable1579
passive1606
rentless1648
unlucrative1762
unremunerating1822
unremunerative1827
unpayable1862
uneconomic1899
1571 T. Gresham Let. 7 Mar. in J. W. Burgon Life & Times Sir T. Gresham (1839) 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.
1622 G. de Malynes Consuetudo 325 They will not keep it by them as a dead stocke..they must imploy it in trade.
1692 J. Locke Some Considerations Lowering Interest 14 That so none of the Money..may lie dead.
1708 London Gaz. No. 4419/6 A considerable quantity of Arms and Ammunition, which were the dead Stock of the African Company.
1729 B. Franklin Modest Enq. 22 The Money which otherwise would have lain dead in their Hands, is made to circulate again.
1813 Sir 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.
1817 J. Mill Hist. 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.
ΚΠ
1670 J. Dryden Tyrannick Love v. i. 64 And all your Goods lie dead upon your hand.
1681 R. Knox Hist. Relation Ceylon 146 And now Caps were become a very dead Commodity.
1879 C. Hibbs in Cassell's Techn. Educator IV. 263/2 A large quantity of finished articles lying as dead stock in the market.
d. Typography. That has been used or is no longer required, as copy after composition, or type ready for distribution or discarded.
ΚΠ
a1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. I. 679/2 Dead-letter, type which has been used for printing, and is ready for distribution. Dead matter.
1898 J. 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.
ΚΠ
1929 A. C. Edington & C. Edington Studio Murder Myst. i. 7 The skeletons of ‘dead’ sets clothed in flowing veils of gray.
1933 P. 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 n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > [adjective] > out of play
dead1658
1658 F. Osborne Advice to 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.
1828 Boy's Own Bk. Diversions (ed. 2) 55 If any player shall stop the ball intentionally..it shall then be considered dead.
1844 Laws of Cricket xxxiii It any fieldsman stop the ball with his hat, the ball shall be considered dead.
1868 W. J. Whitmore Croquet Tactics 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.
1875 Encycl. 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.
1876 Encycl. Brit. 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.
1900 Laws 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’.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 426/2 So the game [sc. Rugby football] proceeds until the ball is once more ‘dead’—that is, brought to a standstill.
1966 B. 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.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > [adverb] > lie of ball
dead1857
1857 H. B. Farnie Golfer's Man. (1947) vii. 73 A ball is said to be dead..when it lies so close to the hole that the put is a certainty.
1881 R. 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.
1898 H. 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.’
1909 P. 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 n.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > water > [adjective] > properties or characteristics of water > still, calm, smooth, or without current
stillOE
deada1000
lithec1275
smoothc1374
unruffled1710
unrippled1775
streamless1863
streamline1907
the world > the earth > water > body of water > still or standing water > [adjective]
pourryc1450
deada1552
stagnant1669
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [adjective] > completely without wind
calmc1440
windless1605
breathless?1614
airless1727
breezelessa1763
unbreathing1814
zephyrlessa1821
dead1861
a1000 Gnomica (Exon.) (Gr.) 79 Deop deada wæg dyrne bið lengest.
a1552 J. Leland De Rebus Brit. Collectanea (1715) I. ii. 546 The Water of Forth beyond Banokesburne, a deade depe Water.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. iii. iv. 55 The dead and slow river Araris.
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler 91 As he [the Trout] growes stronger, he gets from the dead, still water, into the sharp streames and the gravel. View more context for this quotation
1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. III. iii. 60 The wind had fallen dead.
1867 S. W. Baker Nile Tributaries Abyssinia 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.
ΚΠ
1867 W. 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.
ΚΠ
1884 W. 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.
ΚΠ
1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. 619/3 Dead ice, ancient ice retained in ‘fossil glaciers’ or elsewhere under the soil and not moving downward.
1937 S. W. Wooldridge & R. S. 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.
1966 T. Armstrong et al. Illustr. 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 n. at Compounds 2, dead-centre n. 2, dead-line n. 1.)
ΚΠ
1806 O. G. Gregory Treat. Mech. II. 474 One of these pulleys, called the dead pulley, is fixed to the axis and turns with it.
1874 E. H. Knight Pract. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > absence of movement > [adjective]
immobilec1340
moveless1578
motionless1598
immotive1628
dead1647
signless1843
immotile1872
the world > action or operation > ceasing > [adjective] > characterized by abrupt cessation
dead1647
1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 18 Others..are at a dead stand.
1765 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VII. xliv. 155 My mule made a dead point.
1775 C. Burney Let. Mar. (1991) I. 181 My poor book—at a dead stop now.
1853 E. Bulwer-Lytton My Novel I. i. xi. 63 There was a dead pause.
1861 C. Dickens Great Expectations I. ix. 140 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
ΚΠ
1762 W. Hirst in Philos. Trans. 1761 (Royal Soc.) 52 396 It did not stop in winding up, and scaped dead seconds.
1768 tr. D. Le Roy Succinct Acct. Attempts for finding Longitude 29 [The escapement] of my watches is a dead one.
1874 E. H. Knight Pract. 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.
ΚΠ
1955 Times 13 July 8/6 But subsequently Bailey was simply Bailey, calm and unshakable, his whole defence built round the dead bat forward stroke.
1956 A. R. Alston Test Comm. 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. A. 18, A. 22, A. 24); and in some cases there is a blending of two or more notions.
25. † b. Flat. Obsolete.
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’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > [adjective] > without a break
running1390
continuate1555
continual1570
perpetual1578
dead1597
continued1607
continuated1632
indistant1644
continuating1650
continuous1673
contiguousc1720
run1740
jointless1909
1597 F. Bacon Of Coulers Good & Euill (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.
1672 J. Dryden Conquest Granada ii. iii. i. 106 By the dead wall, you, Abdelmelech, wind.
1742 A. Pope New Dunciad 258 We bring to one dead level ev'ry mind.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. xxii. 153 I become more weary upon a dead level..than on a steep mountain side.
1868 E. Yates Rock Ahead II. ii. i. 65 On every hoarding and dead-wall.
1887 J. R. Lowell Democracy & Other Addr. 19 To reduce all mankind to a dead level of mediocrity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > flatness or levelness > [adjective]
eveneOE
plainc1330
platc1395
planirc1450
level1538
flat1551
evenlya1586
plane1666
unraised1694
planary1724
dead1782
flush1791
square1814
billiard-table1887
1782 Conway Specif. Patent 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 A. 18).
ΚΠ
1673 Ld. Shaftsbury in Coll. of Poems 248 That we may not be tossed with boisterous Winds, nor overtaken by a sudden dead Calm.
1783 Blagden in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 73 354 A dead silence on the subject seems to have prevailed.
1839 T. Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale 205 There was a ‘dead calm’..not a breath of wind stirring.
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iv. 84 We heard In the dead hush the papers that she held Rustle.
27.
a. Said of the lowest or stillest state of the tide, as dead low water, dead neap: cf. A. 31.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > tide > type of tide > [noun] > neap > low water
dead low water1561
dead neap1561
dead water1561
1561 R. Eden tr. M. Cortés Arte Nauigation ii. xviii. sig. G.ii Whiche the Mariners call nepe tydes..dead waters, or lowe fluddes.
1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. C The Ocean at his deadest ebbe returns to a full tide.
1626 J. Smith Accidence Young Sea-men 17 A lowe water, a dead low water.
1679 J. Dryden Troilus & Cressida Pref. sig. bv At high floud of Passion, even in the dead Ebb, and lowest Water-mark of the Scene.
1724 London Gaz. No. 6290/3 At dead Low-Water upon a Spring Tide.
1809 Rennell in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 99 403 (note) The..accident happened at dead neaps.
1857 D. Livingstone Missionary Trav. S. Afr. xxxii. 669 I crossed it at dead low-water.
b. dead neap: see A. 27.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > tide > type of tide > [noun] > neap > lowest
dead neap1589
1589 R. Greene Ciceronis Amor 14 The lowest ebbe may haue his flow, and the deadest neepe his full tyde.
1627 G. Hakewill Apologie ii. viii. 123 High springs and dead Neapes.
1698 Spelman's Hist. Sacrilege 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.
1751 Anc. St. Navig. Lyn, etc. 24 Ships of considerable Burden could..come up to the Townside at Low-water, and even at dead Niepe.
1882 W. White Hist., Gazetteer & Directory Lincs. (ed. 4) 750 Ships of over 500 tons register can come to Sutton Bridge at dead neap.
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 n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > effort or exertion > [noun] > instance of > an effort > strong or muscular > required to move resisting body
dead pull1812
dead strain1857
1812 J. Playfair Outl. Nat. Philos. I. 104 The weight which the animal exerting itself to the utmost, or at a dead pull, is just able to overcome.
1857 W. Whewell Hist. Inductive Sci. (ed. 3) 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.
1864 A. Bain Senses & Intellect (ed. 2) i. ii. 197 This power taking the form of movement as distinct from dead strain.
1890 B. 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 n. dead load, a load whose weight is constant and invariable; also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > weight or relative heaviness > [noun] > constant or invariable
dead weight1660
dead load1866
1781 W. Cowper Truth 354 But royalty, nobility, and state, Are such a dead, preponderating weight.
1866 W. J. M. Rankine Usef. Rules 205 Factors of safety for perfect materials and workmanship... Dead Load 2. Live Load 4.
1891 Scribner's Mag. 10 7 The greater engine-power will add to the dead load, thus still further diminishing the vessel's capability for carrying.
1930 Engineering 18 Apr. 503/2 To relieve the main girders of dead-load deflection and live-load stress.
1970 Fremdsprachen 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; frequently colloquial, a person or thing that is totally worthless, inefficient, or unsuccessful; a complete failure; an utter waste of time. (Cf. quot. 1757.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > loss > [noun] > a loss > complete
dead lossa1715
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > hire or rent > rent (land or real property) > [noun] > dead or sleeping
sleeping rent1870
dead rent1893
the world > action or operation > failure or lack of success > [noun] > one who or that which is unsuccessful
failure1836
stumer1891
flop1893
dead-ender1915
no-ball1922
dead loss1927
non-performer1962
bust-out1963
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [noun] > that which is useless > useless person or thing
cumber-worldc1374
cumber-house1541
deaf nut1613
cumber-ground1657
dead duck1844
no good1871
dead wood1877
dead wood1887
blue duck1889
dud1897
cluck1904
non-starter1911
dead loss1927
dreep1927
write-off1935
no-gooder1936
nogoodnik1936
blivet1967
roadkill1990
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 260 The intrinsick wealth of the Nation was very high, when it could answer such a dead charge.
1757 J. Harris Ess. Money & Coins 79 The deficiency upon the coins is so much dead loss to the public.
1796 E. Burke Two Lett. Peace Regicide Directory France i. 78 It required a dead expence of three millions sterling.
1825 W. Scott Let. Mar.–Apr. (1935) IX. 56 I am a sharer to the extent of £1500 on a railroad, which will..double the rent..but is dead outlay in the meantime.
1825 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 19 Nov. 458 Those colonies are a dead expense, without a possibility of their ever being of any use.
1893 Sir J. W. Chitty in Law Times Rep. 68 428/2 The royalty reserved was fourpence a ton..the dead rent was 30l. a year.
1907 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 1000 We seldom have two orders ‘just alike’ in every particular, consequently if the net was returned it would be a ‘dead loss’ to us.
1927 T. 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.
1934 Discovery 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.
1956 D. 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.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adjective] > utter or absolute
shirea1225
purec1300
properc1380
plainc1395
cleana1400
fine?a1400
entirec1400
veryc1400
starka1425
utterc1430
utterlyc1440
merec1443
absolute1531
outright1532
cleara1535
bloodyc1540
unproachable1544
flat1553
downright1577
sheer1583
right-down?1586
single1590
peremptory1601
perfecta1616
downa1625
implicit1625
every way1628
blank1637
out-and-outa1642
errant1644
inaccessional1651
thorough-paced1651
even down1654
dead1660
double-dyed1667
through stitch1681
through-stitched1682
total1702
thoroughgoing1719
thorough-sped1730
regular1740
plumb1748
hollow1751
unextenuated1765
unmitigated1783
stick, stock, stone dead1796
positive1802
rank1809
heart-whole1823
skire1825
solid1830
fair1835
teetotal1840
bodacious1845
raw1856
literal1857
resounding1873
roaring1884
all out1893
fucking1893
pink1896
twenty-four carat1900
grand slam1915
stone1928
diabolical1933
fricking1937
righteous1940
fecking1952
raving1954
1660 R. Sharrock Hist. Propagation & Improvem. Veg. 20 Till the seed..be come to a full and dead ripenesse.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. xii. 119 I had them a dead bargain.
1805 W. Scott Let. 12 Apr. (1932) I. 248 This is a dead secret.
1842 S. 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.
1860 Players 1 154 ‘Done brown, to a dead certainty’ said Buzzen to himself, as he went on eating.
1875 ‘M. Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Mar. 288/2 The grimmest and most dead-earnest of reading-matter.
1878 Print. Trades Jrnl. No. 25. 15 We know to a dead certainty that [etc.].
1883 Cent. Mag. 25 372/2 I am in dead earnest.
1883 ‘M. Twain’ Life on 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 sense A. 31a.) 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 n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > freedom from error, correctness > [adjective]
wiseOE
deada1592
sure-footed1633
inerring1661
unerring1679
safe1788
errorless1856
inerroneous1880
error-free1927
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > freedom from error, correctness > [adjective] > infallible
unfailablec1450
infalliblea1492
inerrable1613
unerrable1616
inerrant1837
dead-on1889
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > absence of doubt, confidence > assured fact, certainty > [adjective]
wislyc1000
sickera1225
firm1377
unfailingc1400
decided1439
suredc1450
sure1470
infirmat1487
delivered1499
fast and sure1528
undeceivablea1535
undoubteda1535
certainc1540
true (also good, sure) as touch1590
constant1611
positivea1616
square1632
formal1635
unapocryphal1644
inconditional1646
inconditionate1654
undeceitful1673
unshakeable1677
unproblematic1683
unprecarious1688
unerring1697
safe1788
hard1791
unproblematical1792
decisive1800
dead-on1889
hands down1900
a1592 R. Greene Sc. Hist. Iames IV (1598) iii. sig. F I am dead at a pocket sir..I can..picke a purse assoone as any theefe in my countrie.
1681 J. Chetham Angler's Vade Mecum x. 74 It's a dead bait for a Trout.
1776 F. Marion in Harper's Mag. Sept. (1883) 547/2 It was so dead a shot they none of them said a word.
1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 42 A silent, stupid, and respectable country gentleman, a dead vote on one side of the House.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xxvi. 261 With a gun in his hand, with much of the air of a dead shot.
1874 G. W. Dasent Half a Life II. 227 Those who do so..are almost always dead plucks.
1889 A. Barrère & C. G. 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.
1959 Punch 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.
ΚΠ
1894 N.E.D. at Dead Mod. Iron bars cut to a dead length are charged a little more.
d. Direct, straight. dead wind (Nautical): 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > going swiftly on foot > [noun] > running > a spell or act of > at full speed
dead run1881
1881 Daily Tel. 28 Jan. It was a dead head-wind.
1888 Harper's Mag. July 184 Keeping the sight of my rifle in a dead line for Gobo's ribs.
1889 K. Munroe Golden Days of ’49 xii. 130 He..started on a dead run back over the trail.
1920 C. E. Mulford Johnny Nelson xii. 131 Striking into a dead run as he approached the rocky hump in the trail.
e. Absolutely certain or safe.
ΚΠ
1876 J. Miller Unwritten Hist. xv. 227 It's your pot, Prince, take it down. You hold the papers, called us on a dead hand, you did, but this was no bluff of mine.
1882 C. Waite Adventures Far West 264 ‘No,’ said he, ‘I shall not go into anything new unless it is a “dead thing”, in fact,’ said he ‘it must be very dead’.
VI. Phrases.
32.
a. dead and gone (usually in literal sense); hence dead-and-goneness. Also dead and alive (see dead-alive adj.); dead and buried; dead and done (for, with). All these phrases are also used attributively (with hyphens).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [adjective]
deadOE
lifelessOE
of lifeOE
storvena1225
dead as a door-nail1362
ydead1387
stark deadc1390
colda1400
bypast1425
perishedc1440
morta1450
obita1450
unquickc1449
gone?a1475
dead and gone1482
extinct1483
departed1503
bygonea1522
amort1546
soulless1553
breathless1562
parted1562
mortified1592
low-laid1598
disanimate1601
carcasseda1603
defunct1603
no morea1616
with God1617
death-stricken1618
death-strucken1622
expired1631
past itc1635
incinerated1657
stock-dead1662
dead as a herring1664
death-struck1688
as dead as a nit1789
(as) dead as mutton1792
low1808
laid in the locker1815
strae-dead1820
disanimated1833
ghosted1834
under the daisies1842
irresuscitable1843
under the sod1847
toes up1851
dead and buried1863
devitalized1866
translated1869
dead and done (for, with)1886
daid1890
bung1893
(as) dead as the (or a) dodo1904
six feet under1942
brown bread1969
the world > time > relative time > the past > [adjective] > firmly in the past or done with
dead and gone1482
deada1616
dead for adoa1638
dead and buried1863
dead and done (for, with)1886
the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > [adjective] > lacking animation
deadOE
lifelessOE
unquickc1475
exanimate?c1550
flat1604
unsprighty1607
spiritless1609
dead-alive1617
fireless1647
uninformed1709
inanimate1713
unanimated1734
nerveless1735
inanimated1753
dispirited1758
dead and alive1863
unalive1905
pepless1909
zipless1922
soggy1928
undead1936
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [noun] > ceasing to exist
deathOE
out-burninga1382
fading1578
desition1612
desistency1615
expiration1649
quietus1744
nothingness1813
defunctness1883
unbecoming1883
dead-and-goneness1891
1482 Monk of Evesham 62 He fownde me ded and gonne.
1523 J. Skelton Goodly Garlande of Laurell 1247 Of one Adame all a knave, dede and gone.
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iv. v. 29 He is dead and gone Lady, he is dead and gone.
1737 A. Pope Epist. of Horace ii. i. 3 Advocates for Folly dead and gone.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xix. 40 When she was dead and gone, perhaps they would be sorry for it.
1863 All Year Round 9 473/1 The grave of Carthage, and other dead and buried cities of the Carthaginians.
1886 H. Baumann Londinismen 39/1 Dead-and-done for, rein futsch; it had such a dead-and-done for look, es sah so ganz erbärmlich aus.
1891 J. L. Kipling Beast & Man in India i. 7 Buddhism has been dead and done with in India proper for centuries.
1891 H. Herman His Angel ii. 40 The dead-and-goneness of emotional fervour.
1897 S. Erskine Lord Dulborough v. 79 We..saw some six-months'-old playbills, announcing some dead-and-gone performance.
1909 Westm. 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.
1934 D. L. Sayers Nine Tailors 158 I won't have you fretting yourself about that old business no more. All that's dead and buried.
1956 Ess. in Crit. 6 222 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [adjective]
deadOE
lifelessOE
of lifeOE
storvena1225
dead as a door-nail1362
ydead1387
stark deadc1390
colda1400
bypast1425
perishedc1440
morta1450
obita1450
unquickc1449
gone?a1475
dead and gone1482
extinct1483
departed1503
bygonea1522
amort1546
soulless1553
breathless1562
parted1562
mortified1592
low-laid1598
disanimate1601
carcasseda1603
defunct1603
no morea1616
with God1617
death-stricken1618
death-strucken1622
expired1631
past itc1635
incinerated1657
stock-dead1662
dead as a herring1664
death-struck1688
as dead as a nit1789
(as) dead as mutton1792
low1808
laid in the locker1815
strae-dead1820
disanimated1833
ghosted1834
under the daisies1842
irresuscitable1843
under the sod1847
toes up1851
dead and buried1863
devitalized1866
translated1869
dead and done (for, with)1886
daid1890
bung1893
(as) dead as the (or a) dodo1904
six feet under1942
brown bread1969
1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. i. 161 Fey withouten fait is febelore þen nouȝt, And ded as a dore-nayl.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 628 For but ich haue bote of mi bale..I am ded as dore-nail.
1594 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 iv. ix. 39 And I do not leaue thee..as dead as a doore nayle.
1602 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor ii. iii. 11 Begar de Hearing be not so dead as I shall make him.]
1664 S. Butler Hudibras: Second Pt. ii. iii. 213 Hudibras, to all appearing, Believ'd him to be dead as Herring.
1680 T. Otway Hist. Caius Marius v. 57 As dead as a Herring, Stock-fish, or Door-nail.
1792 I. Bickerstaff 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.
1832 T. Creevey in Creevey Papers (1903) II. 245 Dead as mutton, every man John of us!
1856 C. Reade It is never too Late III. viii. 65 Ugh! what, is he, is he—Dead as a herring.
1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 29 May 5/2 The Congo treaty may now be regarded as being as dead as a doornail.
1904 H. O. Sturgis Belchamber iv. 51 The Radicalism of Mill..is as dead as the dodo.
1919 W. S. Maugham Moon & Sixpence ii. 10 Mr. Crabbe was as dead as mutton, but Mr. Crabbe continued to write moral stories in rhymed couplets.
1935 Ann. 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.
1960 Guardian 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 n. 19.
d. to wait for dead men's shoes: see shoe n. 2k.
e. to be dead on: cf. death n. Phrases 14a. slang.
ΚΠ
1891 ‘S. C. Scrivener’ Our Fields & Cities 22 These boys always were ‘dead’ on a rat, no matter what its size.
f. to be dead nuts on: see nuts adj. 1.
g. Colloquial phrase (I, etc.) wouldn't be seen (or found) dead in, with: (I shall) have nothing to do with (something or someone); (I) hate, detest.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > hatred > hate inwardly or intensely [verb (transitive)]
hateeOE
i-veec975
nitheOE
inhatea1529
maligna1535
misbelove1545
stand1869
(I, etc.) wouldn't be seen (or found) dead in, with1924
1924 R. Kipling Debits & Credits (1926) 29 ‘Wouldn't be found dead in Hilarity,’ was Winchmore's grateful reply.
1931 T. R. G. Lyell Slang, Phrase & Idiom Colloq. Eng. 671 No decent person would be seen dead with a specimen like that!
1933 A. 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.
1937 M. Sharp Nutmeg Tree ix. 103 In the whole of France there wasn't a hat she would be seen dead in.
1966 A. E. Lindop I start Counting ix. 110 Do you think I'd be seen dead in gear like that?
h. Colloquial phrase dead from the neck up: brainless, stupid.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupidity, dullness of intellect > [adjective]
sloweOE
stuntc960
dullOE
hardOE
stuntlyc1000
sotc1050
dillc1175
dulta1225
simplea1325
heavy1340
astonedc1374
sheepishc1380
dull-witteda1387
lourd1390
steerishc1411
ass-likea1425
brainless?a1439
deafc1440
sluggishc1450
short-witted1477
obtuse1509
peakish1519
wearish1519
deaf, or dumb as a beetle1520
doileda1522
gross1526
headlessa1530
stulty1532
ass-headed1533
pot-headed1533
stupid?1541
sheep's head1542
doltish1543
dumpish1545
assish1548
blockish1548
slow-witted1548
blockheaded1549
surd1551
dull-headed1552
hammer-headed1552
skit-brained?1553
buzzardly1561
witless1562
log-headeda1566
assy1566
sottish1566
dastardly1567
stupidious1567
beetle-headed1570
calvish1570
bluntish1578
cod's-headed1578
grout-headed1578
bedaft1579
dull-pated1580
blate1581
buzzard-like1581
long-eared1582
dullard1583
woodena1586
duncical1588
leaden-headed1589
buzzard1592
dorbellical1592
dunstical1592
heavy-headeda1593
shallow-brained1592
blunt-witted1594
mossy1597
Bœotian1598
clay-brained1598
fat1598
fat-witted1598
knotty-pated1598
stupidous1598
wit-lost1599
barren1600
duncifiedc1600
lourdish1600
stockish1600
thick1600
booby1603
leaden-pated1603
partless1603
thin-headed1603
leaden-skulledc1604
blockhead1606
frost-brained1606
ram-headed1608
beef-witted1609
insulse1609
leaden-spirited1609
asininec1610
clumse1611
blockheadly1612
wattle-headed1613
flata1616
logger-headeda1616
puppy-headeda1616
shallow-patedc1616
thick-brained1619
half-headed1621
buzzard-blinda1625
beef-brained1628
toom-headed1629
thick-witted1634
woollen-witted1635
squirrel-headed1637
clod-pated1639
lean-souled1639
muddy-headed1642
leaden-witteda1645
as sad as any mallet1645
under-headed1646
fat-headed1647
half-witted1647
insipid1651
insulsate1652
soft-headed1653
thick-skulleda1657
muddish1658
non-intelligent1659
whey-brained1660
sap-headed1665
timber-headed1666
leather-headeda1668
out of (one's) tree1669
boobily1673
thoughtless1673
lourdly1674
logger1675
unintelligenta1676
Bœotic1678
chicken-brained1678
under-witted1683
loggerhead1684
dunderheaded1692
unintelligible1694
buffle-headed1697
crassicc1700
numbskulled1707
crassous1708
doddy-polled1708
haggis-headed1715
niddy-noddy1722
muzzy1723
pudding-headed1726
sumphish1728
pitcher-souleda1739
duncey1743
hebete1743
chuckheaded1756
dumb1756
duncely1757
imbecile1766
mutton-headed1768
chuckle-headed1770
jobbernowl1770
dowfarta1774
boobyish1778
wittol1780
staumrel1787
opaquec1789
stoopid1791
mud-headed1793
borné1795
muzzy-headed1798
nog-headed1800
thick-headed1801
gypit1804
duncish1805
lightweight1809
numbskull1814
tup-headed1816
chuckle-pate1820
unintellectuala1821
dense1822
ninnyish1822
dunch1825
fozy1825
potato-headed1826
beef-headed1828
donkeyish1831
blockheadish1833
pinheaded1837
squirrel-minded1837
pumpkin-headed1838
tomfoolish1838
dundering1840
chicken-headed1842
like a bump on a log1842
ninny-minded1849
numbheadeda1852
nincompoopish1852
suet-brained1852
dolly1853
mullet-headed1853
sodden1853
fiddle-headed1854
numb1854
bovine1855
logy1859
crass1861
unsmart1861
off his chump1864
wooden-headed1865
stupe1866
lean-minded1867
duffing1869
cretinous1871
doddering1871
thick-head1873
doddling1874
stupido1879
boneheaded1883
woolly-headed1883
leaden-natured1889
suet-headed1890
sam-sodden1891
dopey1896
turnip-headed1898
bonehead1903
wool-witted1905
peanut-headed1906
peanut-brained1907
dilly1909
torpid-minded1909
retardate1912
nitwitted1917
meat-headed1918
mug1922
cloth-headed1925
loopy1925
nitwit1928
lame-brained1929
dead from the neck up1930
simpy1932
nail-headed1936
square-headed1936
dingbats1937
pinhead1939
dim-witted1940
pea-brained1942
clueless1943
lobotomized1943
retarded1949
pointy-headed1950
clottish1952
like a stunned mullet1953
silly (or crazy) as a two-bob watch1954
out to lunch1955
pin-brained1958
dozy1959
eejity1964
out of one's tiny mind1965
doofus1967
twitty1967
twittish1969
twatty1975
twattish1976
blur1977
dof1979
goofus1981
dickheaded1991
dickish1991
numpty1992
cockish1996
1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel ii. 161 Most of the inhabitants were dead from the neck up.
1963 P. G. Wodehouse Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves vi. 64 The sort of dead-from-the-neck-up dumb brick who wouldn't have thought of it.
B. n.† 3. = dead heat n. Obsolete.† 5. U.S. College slang. A complete failure in ‘recitation’. Obsolete.
1. c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) viii. 22 And læt deade bebyrigean hyra deadan.c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 23 To demen þe quike and þe deade.c1426 J. Audelay Poems (1931) 7 Vysyte þe seke..And bere þe ded.1661 A. Cowley Vision Cromwell 19 The Monuments of the Dead.1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. ii. 472 The transference of property from the dead to the living.1842 Ld. Tennyson Two Voices in Poems (new ed.) II. 134 Nor canst thou show the dead are dead.
Thesaurus »
a. singular. One who is dead, a dead person. Formerly with a, and with possessive dead's (dedes, dedis).
b. plural the dead.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [noun]
the holy soulsc950
the deadc1000
dead1340
deadmana1400
the defunct1548
sleeper1590
gone?1614
grave-fellow1642
under-dead1648
the deceased1673
the majority1721
the departed1722
the dear departed1814
sleeper1827
goner1836
gone coon1837
silent majority1874
c1175 Lamb. Hom. 51 Al swa me deað bi þe deade.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 258 Huanne me yziȝþ bere ane byrie þet is tokne þet þer is wyþine a dyad.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 18043 Þat dede from deþ to lif he [sc. Lazarus] diȝt.
1465 M. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 307 Tochyng the savacyon of the dedys gode.
?1529 S. Fish Supplicacyon for Beggers sig. A2 Or elles they will accuse the dedes frendes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) iii. ii. 127 I rather choose To wrong the dead..Then I will wrong such Honourable men. View more context for this quotation
1691 A. Gavin Frauds Romish Monks 32 The Dead, raising himself the third and last time.
1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam lxxxiii. 121 So hold I commerce with the dead; Or so methinks the dead would say. View more context for this quotation
c. from the dead [originally translating Latin a mortuis, Greek ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν in the New Testament.] : from among those that are dead; hence nearly = from death.
ΚΠ
c950 Lindisf. Gosp. John ii. 22 Miððy uutudlice ariseð from deadum.
1340 Ayenb. 263 Þane þridde day a-ros uram þe dyade.
1557 Bible (Whittingham) Rom. xi. 15 What shal the receauing of them be, but lyfe from the dead?
1652 T. Gataker Antinomianism 5 His rising from the ded.
1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 355 This was a kind of Life from the Dead to us both.
1862 A. Trollope Orley Farm II. xiii. 103 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. 27.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > night > [noun] > darkest period or dead of night
dead of night1548
witching hour1762
the world > time > period > year > season > [noun] > winter
midwinterOE
wintertideOE
winterOE
wintertimea1398
hiemsc1450
snow-time1535
dead of winter1548
after-winter1593
back-winter1599
snow1778
ice queen1818
old-fashioned winter1829
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cixv In the dedde of the night..he brake vp his campe and fled.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis iv. 80 Neere toe dead of midnight yt drew.
1613 A. Sherley Relation Trav. Persia 4 My iourney was under-taken in the dead of winter.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) i. v. 260 Euen in the dead of night . View more context for this quotation
1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §266 At dead of neap, when the tides run less rapid.
1808 Salmagundi 25 Jan. 408 In the dead of winter, when nature is without charm.
1840 T. B. Macaulay Ld. Clive (1867) 25 At dead of night, Clive marched out of the fort.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > [noun] > types of race
quarter-mile1611
dead1635
diaulos1706
quarter1779
dead heat1796
match race1804
dash1836
sprint race1836
mile1851
road race1852
time trial1857
decider1858
all-ages1864
rough-up1864
hippodrome1867
distance running1868
team race1869
run-off1873
relay race1878
walk-away1879
title race1905
tortoise race1913
procession1937
stage1943
pace1968
prologue1973
1635 F. Quarles Emblemes i. x. 43 Mammon, well follow'd: Cupid bravely ledde; Both Touchers; Equall Fortune makes a dead.
4. Mining. deads n. earth or rock containing no ore (see A. 10); esp. as thrown out or heaped together in the course of working.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > kind of earth or soil > [noun] > other soils
white earth1448
Chiltern?1530
light land1589
deads1653
rosil1691
moorland1753
prairie soil1817
residuum1828
rendzina1905
podzol1908
solonetz1924
solod1925
solonchak1925
pedalfer1928
pedocal1928
skeletal soil1932
peloid1933
sierozem1934
planosol1938
lithosol1939
regosol1949
andosol1958
Alfisol1960
Aridisol1960
Histosol1960
Spodosol1960
Andisol1978
1653 E. Manlove Rhymed Chron. 271 Deads, Meers, Groves.
1671 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 6 2102 By Deads here are meant, that part of the Shelf which contains no metal.
1759 W. Borlase in Philos. Trans. 1758 (Royal Soc.) 50 503 Noise..as if a studdle had broke, and the deads were set a running [note, Loose rubbish and broken stones of the mine].
1851 C. Kingsley Yeast xiii A great furze-croft, full of deads (those are the earth-heaps they throw out of the shafts).
ΚΠ
a1856 Harvard Reg. 378 in B. H. Hall Coll. College Words One must stand up in the singleness of his ignorance to understand all the mysterious feelings connected with a dead.
1857 Harvard 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 attributively, as in dead money, money paid for saying masses for the dead; dead list, list of the dead, etc. See various examples under Compounds 1, A. 2Grammatically, 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 A. 1); dead wool, the wool of dead or slaughtered sheep.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > [noun] > meat > butcher-meat
butcher's meat1608
shamble-meat1618
dead meat1879
1476 in E. Hobhouse Church-wardens' Accts. (1890) 5 There is left of the ded money..xlvis jd.
1692 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) II. 544 Some..in the dead list were not killed, but made prisoners.
1834 A. E. Bray Warleigh III. xviii. 251 Examined into by the ‘dead jury’, for so was an inquest termed, at the date of our tale.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 177/1 ‘Dead salesmen’..that is, the market salesmen of the meat sent..ready slaughtered.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. 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.
1879 A. P. Vivian Wanderings in Western Land 115 American dead meat can be delivered in perfect condition in English ports.
1879 A. P. Vivian Wanderings in Western Land 115 The dead-meat trade is only in its infancy.
1880 Victorian Rev. Feb. 664 Unlimited supplies of dead beef available for export from the United States.
1897 Westm. 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.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 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.
ΚΠ
1896 G. Ade Artie i. 7 On the dead, I don't believe any o' them people out there ever saw a good show.
1902 H. L. Wilson Spenders xxix. 340 Say, on the dead, Uncle Peter, I wish you'd come.
1903 A. 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 adj. at Compounds 2, dead drunk adj., etc.Often connected with the qualified word by a hyphen, and thus passing into combinations.
ΚΠ
1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis III. 259 Whereof she swouned in his honde, And as who saith lay dede oppressed.]
1596 R. Linche Dom Diego in Diella sig. E4 Leaden-footed griefe, Who neuer goes but with a dead-slowe pace.
a1631 W. Laud Serm. (1847) 125 Elias bid them cry louder; their God was ‘asleep’..Yes, dead asleep.
1637 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) I. 267 Deferred hopes need not make me dead-sweir (as we used to say).
1727 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Oeconomique (Dublin ed.) at Hart Dead run deer have upon occasion taken very great leaps.
1818 J. Keats Endymion i. 22 As dead-still as a marble man.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast x. 24 In a few minutes it fell dead calm.
1842 J. W. Carlyle Lett. I. 157 For all so dead-weary as I lay down.
1842 J. W. Carlyle Lett. I. 160 Whether I fainted, or suddenly fell dead-asleep.
1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. vi. 103 To drive into Farringdon..both horses dead done up.
1881 Times 25 July 4/5 Her engines were going dead slow.
b. With absolute or abrupt cessation of motion (or speech). (Cf. A. 24a.)
ΚΠ
1856 G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Coventry My companion stopped dead short and concealed her blushes in a glass of champagne.
1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. ii. iv. 201 He stopped dead.
c. With the full weight of an inert body. (Cf. A. 29.)
ΚΠ
1875 J. 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. 31a) Esp. dead broke (see broke adj. 3a), dead certain, dead easy, dead frozen sure, dead level, dead right, dead sure. Now colloquial.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > utterly
allOE
allOE
outlyOE
thwert-outc1175
skerea1225
thoroughc1225
downrightc1275
purec1300
purelyc1300
faira1325
finelyc1330
quitec1330
quitelyc1330
utterlyc1374
outerlya1382
plainlya1382
straighta1387
allutterly1389
starkc1390
oultrelya1393
plata1393
barec1400
outrightc1400
incomparablyc1422
absolutely?a1425
simpliciter?a1425
staringa1425
quitementa1450
properlyc1450
directly1455
merec1475
incomparable1482
preciselyc1503
clean?1515
cleara1522
plain1535
merely1546
stark1553
perfectly1555
right-down1566
simply1574
flat1577
flatly1577
skire1581
plumb1588
dead?1589
rankly1590
stark1593
sheera1600
start1599
handsmooth1600
peremptory1601
sheerly1601
rank1602
utter1619
point-blank1624
proofa1625
peremptorily1626
downrightly1632
right-down1646
solid1651
clever1664
just1668
hollow1671
entirely1673
blank1677
even down1677
cleverly1696
uncomparatively1702
subtly1733
point1762
cussed1779
regularly1789
unqualifiedly1789
irredeemably1790
positively1800
cussedly1802
heart1812
proper1816
slick1818
blankly1822
bang1828
smack1828
pluperfectly1831
unmitigatedly1832
bodaciously1833
unredeemedly1835
out of sight1839
bodacious1845
regular1846
thoroughly1846
ingrainedly1869
muckinga1880
fucking1893
motherless1898
self1907
stone1928
sideways1956
terminally1974
?1589 T. Nashe Almond for Parrat sig. 5v Oh he is olde dogge at expounding, and deade sure at a Catechisme.
1740 S. Richardson Pamela I. xxxi. 146 A dead, spiteful, grey, goggling Eye.
1826 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey I. i. v. 34 He cut the Doctor quite dead at Greek to-day.
1845 Cultivator 2 92 As I..come out upon the high prairie with the wind ‘dead ahead’.
1849 G. C. Greenwell Gloss. Terms Coal Trade Northumberland & Durham 3 The small coals..are..passed over a second skreen, [to separate] the nuts..and the dead small, or duff, which falls through the skreen.
1857 R. Tomes Americans in Japan ix. 196 Before the rice is ‘dead ripe’.
1860 W. F. Hook Lives Archbps. (1862) II. ii. 93 Only one horse..which soon became dead lame.
a1861 T. Winthrop Canoe & Saddle (1883) 280 Prairieland lies dead level for leagues.
1871 J. Hay Pike County Ballads 10 He'd seen his duty a dead-sure thing.
1883 ‘M. Twain’ Life on Mississippi xxxix. 414 We'll cotton-seed his salad for him..that's a dead-certain thing.
1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 59 I saw directly that I'd mashed her—she was gone, dead gone, sir.
1894 in E. R. Lamson Yale Wit & Humor 47 (caption) A Dead Easy Queen Caught His Eye.
1895 J. L. Williams Princeton Stories 166 You're dead right in saying he's too young.
1897 Scribner's Mag. Sept. 297/2 I was dead frozen sure that I had a sure tip on a wheat deal.
1903 A. Bennett Let. 24 Aug. (1960) 96 She is dead right all through.
1904 W. H. Smith Promoters v. 92 For a dead easy mark in a business way, commend me to a preacher.
1906 Springfield Weekly Republican 12 July 3 His scouts..report that Moran [a candidate for governor] has a dead-sure thing.
1908 G. H. Lorimer Jack Spurlock i. 19 It was like having one of those mushy girls dead gone on you.
1922 D. 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.
1930 W. Gibson Hazards 12 He could always plane the deal Dead-level; ay, his work was always true.
1959 J. Braine Vodi i. 22 You're mardy. You're dead mardy.
1961 A. Simpson & R. Galton Four Hancock Scripts 43/2 Tony and Sid are dead bored.
1963 D. Lessing Man & Two Women 140 ‘That's right,’ said Charlie, ‘you're dead right.’
b. Slang phrase dead to rights: (a) completely, certainly, (b) red-handed; in the act; ‘bang to rights’ (bang v.1 9). (Cf. right n. Phrases 1b(m)) originally U.S.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > general proceedings > arrest > under arrest [phrase] > caught red-handed
dead to rights1859
1859 G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 25 Dead to rights, positively guilty, and no way of getting clear.
1872 G. 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.
1881 City Argus (San Francisco) 2 July 4/4 Jimmy..was caught ‘dead to rights’, and now languishes in the city Bastile.
1889 A. Barrère & C. G. 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: literal in a direction exactly opposite to one's course (so dead on end); figurative (in a way) directly or utterly opposed to. (Cf. A. 31d.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > [adverb] > straight or due
rightOE
rightlyOE
evenc1300
plata1450
plain1509
straight1512
directly1513
fulla1529
flat1531
due?1574
dead1800
slap1829
plunk1866
squarely1883
1800 C. Sturt in Naval Chron. 4 394 Carrying me dead upon the Shambles.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast iv. 7 We continued running dead before the wind.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxxiii. 126 The wind and rain being dead against me.
1872 W. H. Dixon W. Penn (rev. ed.) ix. 77 The councillors were dead against his prayer.
1875 J. C. Wilcocks Sea Fisherman 109 Observing..that..the wind was dead on end, and the sail ‘would not be a ha'porth of good’.
Compounds
Combinations (of the adjective or noun). C1. General attributive.
a. With other adjectives or participles (in adjectival or adverbial constructions) = ‘so as to be or seem dead, as if dead, to death’, etc.
dead-blanched adj.
ΚΠ
1879 R. Browning Halbert & Hob 42 Temples, late black, dead-blanched.
dead-cold adj.
ΚΠ
1622 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Maides Trag. (new ed.) ii. sig. D2v Two dead cold Aspicks.
dead-drifting comb. form
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1818 J. Keats Endymion iii. 125 A swoon Left me dead-drifting to that fatal power.
dead-grown adj.
ΚΠ
1594 Kyd Cornelia 11, in W. C. Hazlitt Dodsley's Sel. Coll. Old Eng. Plays (1874) V. 190 My dead-grown joys.
dead-heavy adj.
ΚΠ
1819 J. Keats Sonn., Picture of Leander See how his body dips Dead-heavy.
dead-killing adj.
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1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. E2 With a Cockeatrice dead killing eye. View more context for this quotation
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iv. i. 35 This dead killing newes. View more context for this quotation
dead-live adj. (cf. dead-alive adj.).
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1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. iii. 106 Th'admired Adamant, Whose dead-lyue power, my reasons power doth dant.
dead-living adj.
ΚΠ
1606 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iii. 78 He smote the Sea with his dead-living Rod.
dead-seeming adj.
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1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 310 Dead-seeming coales, but quick.
dead-set adj.
ΚΠ
1820 W. Scott Monastery I. iii. 117 Her quivering lip, and dead-set eye.
dead-sounding adj.
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1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Archit. I. 42 a Of Stones, some..are heavy and sonorous; others are..light, and dead sounding.
dead-speaking adj.
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1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. ii. 493 The Guide of supplest fingars On (lyuing-dumbe, dead-speaking) Sinnew-singars.
dead-wounded adj.
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c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 6528 All þat met hym..Auther dyet of his dynttes, or were ded wondit.
b. Parasynthetic (see also dead-hearted adj.).
dead-coloured adj.
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1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Blaime, pale..whitish, dead coloured.
dead-eyed adj.
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1570 Ane Trag. 16 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. 83 Paill of the face..Deid eyit, dram lyke, disfigurat was he.
c. attributive combinations of the noun, with the sense ‘of the dead’.† dead-burier n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Ezek. xxxix. 14 They shal ordene men also to be deedburiers.
dead-land n.
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1871 E. B. Tylor Primitive Culture II. 281 Mictlanteuotli, ruler of the dismal dead~land in the shades below.
C2. See also dead-alive adj. —dead-work n. † dead-birth n. Obsolete see birth n.1 6b. † ˈdead-pledge n. Obsolete = mortgage n.† ˈdead-slayer n. Obsolete one guilty of manslaughter.† ˈdead-strooken adj. Obsolete = dead-struck adj.† dead-sweat n. Obsolete the cold sweat of death: = death-sweat.† dead wed n. (Scottishwad) Obsolete = mortgage n.
Categories »
dead angle n. Fortification ‘any angle of a fortification, the ground before which is unseen, and therefore undefended from the parapet’ (Stocqueler Mil. Encycl.).
dead-ball line n. Rugby Football A line behind the goal-line, beyond which the ball is considered ‘dead’ (sense A. 21a).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > [noun] > parts of pitch
touch1845
goalpost1857
goal line1860
touch-in-goal1863
field of play1871
twenty-five1877
dead-ball line1892
in-goal1897
try line1898
1892 Football Calendar 1892–3 63 Not more than 25 yards behind the goal line, and parallel thereto, shall be lines, which shall be called the Dead-Ball Lines.
1905 Westm. 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.
dead-bird n. (see quot. 1898).
ΚΠ
1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker xxii. 349 Can't you give us ‘a dead bird’ for a good trade-room?
1898 E. E. Morris 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.
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the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [noun] > dead child > still-born child
abortivea1382
abort1578
dead-birth1676
still1864
still-born1913
still-birth1963
1676 J. Cooke Mellificium Chirurg. (ed. 3) 824 The Round [Birthwort] is..more effectual in moving speedily the Menses, dead-Birth, and after-Birth.
dead block n. (see quot.)
ΚΠ
1884 E. H. Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. Dead Blocks,..blocks projecting from the end of a freight car to receive the concussion when the buffer springs are compressed.
dead-box n. a vehicle used for conveying dead bodies out of a mine.
ΚΠ
1897 Daily News 12 May 5/7 He arrived at the pit's mouth in the dead-box, having fainted whilst below.
dead-burned adj. 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.
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1939 Iron & 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.
dead-burnt adj. = dead-burned adj.
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1903 Nature 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.
1904 G. F. Goodchild & C. F. 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.
1958 A. 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.
ˈdead-cart n. a cart in which dead bodies are carried away (e.g. during pestilence).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > [noun] > cart in which corpses are carried
dead-cart1722
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > [noun] > for carrying dead bodies away
dead-cart1722
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 40 Many..were..carried away in the Dead-Carts.
1887 Pall Mall Gaz. 18 Mar. 2/2 In Monte Video..the dead carts pass through the streets with dead and dying all mixed up.
ˈdead-clothes n. the clothes in which the dead are dressed.
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the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > preparation or treatment of corpse > [noun] > laying or wrapping in shroud > grave-clothes
grave-clothes1535
burial-clothes1570
linena1616
dead-dress1854
dead-clothes1861
1861 E. B. Ramsay Reminisc. Sc. Life 2nd Ser. 5 ‘Those are fine linens you have got there, Janet.’ ‘Troth, mem..they're just the gudeman's deed claes.’
1888 Contemp. Rev. Mar. 409 The men set themselves to dig out actual catacombs, while the women made dead-clothes.
dead dipping n. a process by which a ‘dead’ or dull surface is given to ornamental brass-work (Ure Dict. Arts 1875).
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1866 S. Timmins Industr. Hist. Birmingham 299 Dead dipping..has now become the recognized mode of finish where acid is employed.
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) IV. 299/2 ‘Dead’ dipping produces a beautiful frosted appearance on the work.
dead-dipped adj.
ΚΠ
1866 S. Timmins Industr. Hist. Birmingham 300 Burnishing..furnishes a contrast to other portions of dead dipped work.
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dead doors n. Nautical 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 n. = dead-clothes n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > preparation or treatment of corpse > [noun] > laying or wrapping in shroud > grave-clothes
grave-clothes1535
burial-clothes1570
linena1616
dead-dress1854
dead-clothes1861
1854 H. Miller Schools & Schoolmasters (1857) vii. 138 Like the pointed tags that roughen a dead-dress.
dead-drop n. (see quot.)
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1928 Daily Express 13 July 4 Do simple fancy dives first, such as sitting dives, arm balances, and dead-drops. The last-named is performed like a ‘header’, but with arms extended above the head, then fall into the water rigid, without springing or making any other movement.
dead duck n. slang (originally U.S.) a person or thing that is useless, unsuccessful, bankrupt, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [noun] > that which is useless > useless person or thing
cumber-worldc1374
cumber-house1541
deaf nut1613
cumber-ground1657
dead duck1844
no good1871
dead wood1877
dead wood1887
blue duck1889
dud1897
cluck1904
non-starter1911
dead loss1927
dreep1927
write-off1935
no-gooder1936
nogoodnik1936
blivet1967
roadkill1990
1829 N.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.]
1844 A. Jackson Let. 7 May in M. James A. Jackson (1937) xxiii. 481 Clay [is] a dead political duck.
1867 New Mexican 30 Mar. 2/2 The ‘powerful’ efforts of certain ‘dead ducks’ to prevent his appointment.
1888 N.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.
dead earth n. a complete or very low-resistance electrical connection with the earth (see quots.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > transmission of electricity, conduction > conduction to earth > [noun] > low-resistance
dead earth1863
dead ground1910
1863 R. S. Culley Handbk. Pract. Telegr. vii. 105 Dead Earth. All the current passing through the fault... No signal whatever beyond the fault.
1882 R. M. Ballantyne Battery & Boiler (1883) x. 102 We have found dead earth.
1910 Hawkins' 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.
1914 Work 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.
Thesaurus »
Categories »
dead-file n. = a dead-smooth file (see dead-smooth adj.).
dead fin n. name for the second dorsal fin of a salmon.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > parts of fish > [noun] > fin or parts of fin > dorsal
back-fin?c1225
adipose fin1789
radius1822
subdorsal1856
dead fin1865
1865 J. G. Bertram Harvest of Sea iii. 109 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.
1865 J. G. Bertram Harvest of Sea v. 196 Cutting off the dead fin is not thought a good plan of marking.
dead finish n. Australian colloquial (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.
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1881 A. C. Grant Bush-life in Queensland xiv ‘He's the dead finish—go right through a man,’ rejoins Sam, rather sulkily.
1885 H. 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.
1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants Austral. 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).
1902 J. 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’.
1907 Daily Chron. 18 Mar. 4/4 There is a corporation which grows roses to compete with Nature's ‘dead finish’ trees.
1934 Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Jan. 21/3 They were made from myall, dead finish, ringed gidya and other fancy woods.
1959 C. Chauvel & 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.
ˈdead-fire n. the luminous appearance called St. Elmo's Fire, superstitiously believed to presage death.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > naturally occurring light > [noun] > lightning > bead or forked lightning > St. Elmo's fire
heaven's fireOE
St. Elmo's fire1561
Hermes' fire1611
corposant1650
furole1656
Castor1708
composant1751
storm-light1843
storm-firea1847
dead-fire1854
witch-fire1892
1854 H. Miller My Schools & Schoolmasters (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.
dead-flat n. Nautical that timber or frame in a ship that has the greatest breadth; the midship-bend).
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > [noun] > timbers of hull > other framing or supporting timbers
weyr1296
stanchiona1626
sleeper1626
cant1794
newel1831
dead-flat1850
bee-seatingc1860
truss-piece1867
wiver1894
1850 J. Weale Rudim. Dict. Terms Archit. Dead-flat.
dead-fold n. a sheep-pen.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > sheep-farming > [noun] > folding sheep > fold or pen
sheepfolda1430
caul1483
boughta1522
sheep-garth1570
wool-hurdle1586
barkary?1592
sheep-pen1649
ovil1674
night-lair1688
turnip-tray1805
sheep-ree1817
stow1856
dead-fold1897
sheep-camp1911
check-pen1922
1897 L. 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.].
1906 G. A. B. Dewar Faery Year 32 The dead-fold is formed of wattle hurdles bound about with swathes of straw.
dead-freight n. the amount paid for that part of a vessel not occupied by cargo, when the vessel is chartered for a lump sum.
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1736 N. Bailey et al. Dictionarium Britannicum (ed. 2) 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.
1880 Clause 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.
dead furrow n. U.S. the last or finishing furrow left between ‘lands’ in ploughing.
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the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > breaking up land > ploughing > [noun] > furrow
furrowc888
vorec1380
scratching1548
henting?a1605
voor1669
thorough1732
gaw1793
dead furrow1838
sheugh1844
mould furrow1851
back-furrow1855
1838 H. Colman 1st Rep. Agric. Mass. (Mass. Agric. Surv.) 68 It [sc. the side hill plough]..avoids a dead furrow in the center.
1873 Trans. Dept. Agric. State Illinois 1872 10 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.
1894 Irrigation Age Jan. 34/2 With the discs straddling the dead furrow.
dead gold n. unburnished gold or gold without lustre.
dead ground n. perfect electrical connexion with the earth; = dead earth n.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > transmission of electricity, conduction > conduction to earth > [noun] > low-resistance
dead earth1863
dead ground1910
1910 Hawkins' Electr. Dict. 109/1 Dead ground, the same as dead earth.
dead heading n. Printing (rare) the piece of text placed on a page to indicate pagination throughout a chapter, book, etc.
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1874 A. Tolhausen & L. Tolhausen Technol. Dict. (new ed.) at Heading Dead heading, der todte Kolumnentitel; Titre courant indiquant la pagination.
Dead Heart n. Australian colloquial the remote inland area of Australia.
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the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Australasia > [noun] > Australia > interior
Never-Never Country1859
outside1869
Centralia1887
centre1896
way back1901
outback1904
Dead Heart1906
Red Centre1935
1906 J. W. Gregory (title) The dead heart of Australia.
1935 F. W. Jones in H. H. Finlayson Red Centre 8 That strange and undefinable attraction that the Dead Heart always has.
1945 Salt 2 July 23/1 Collective effort can radically alter the future of the so-called ‘dead-heart’ of Australia.
ˈdead-hole n. (see quots. and cf. dead well n.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > sanitation > provision of sewers > sewage treatment > [noun] > use of cesspools or lagoons > cesspool or pit
sink1413
midden pita1425
sinkhole1456
suspiralc1512
sentine1537
dung pit1598
muck pit1598
sinker1623
bumby1632
sump1680
sump hole1754
jaw-hole1760
recess1764
cesspool1783
dead-hole1856
soil-tank1861
cesspit1864
lagoon1909
sewage lagoon1930
1856 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 17 ii. 504 For these dead-holes we would substitute cesspools..The open cesspools, or dead-holes, which are too frequently used.
dead horse n. (see horse n. 19).
ˈdead-house n. a building or room in which dead bodies are kept for a time, a mortuary; (see also sense A. 18b above).
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the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > preparation or treatment of corpse > [noun] > mortuary
lich-housec1200
coffin-house1611
dead-house1812
dead-room1835
funeral house1850
mortuary1864
hearse-house1870
slumber room1936
1812 J. J. Henry Accurate Acct. Campaign against Quebec 134 Many carioles..passed our dwelling loaded with the dead..to a place, emphatically, called the ‘dead-house’.
1833 Edinb. Rev. 57 348 The keeper of the dead-house.
1850 Ecclesiologist 10 339 To the right of the lich-gate we have placed the ‘Dead-House’.
dead language n. a language no longer in vernacular use.
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the mind > language > a language > [noun] > living, dead, or archaic language
classical language1752
dead language1781
1781 S. Johnson Addison in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets V. 8 A dead language, in which nothing is mean because nothing is familiar.
1845 M. Pattison in Christian Remembrancer Jan. 74 In fact, Bede is writing in a dead language, Gregory in a living.
1917 A. Cahan Rise of David Levinsky (1993) xiii. ii. 463 I happened to drop a remark to the effect that Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, was a dead language.
2004 Wall St. Jrnl. (Central ed.) 21 Oct. a19/1 This month marks the publication of ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’—in ancient Greek. Brian Carney examines the effects of translating pop-lit into the dead languages.
dead-latch n. (see quot. 1874).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > lock > other types of lock
inlock1488
treble lock1680
French lock1787
ringlock1789
thumb-lock1801
bar-lock1828
permutation lock1835
check-lock1850
pin lock1851
time lock1858
garret-lock1860
dead lock1866
seal-lock1871
dead-latch1874
Bramah-lock1875
cylinder lock1878
police lock1910
ziplock1956
solenoid lock1976
D-lock1990
1874 E. H. Knight Pract. 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.
dead leaf n. (a) the colour of a dead leaf; chiefly as adj., = feuillemorte adj.; (b) Aeronautics (see quot. 1918).
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [adjective] > yellowish brown > dead leaf colour
filemot1647
feuillemorte1690
dead leaf1864
1864 M. B. Chesnut Diary 27 May in C. V. Woodward Mary Chesnut's Civil War (1981) xxiv. 610 Brushing scant locks which were shining fleecy white. Her maid would be doing hers, which were dead-leaf brown.
1896 Daily News 17 Oct. 6/5 A woollen skirt of a dead-leaf shade.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 21 Oct. 18/2 That delightful sort of golden browny shade that is really best described as dead leaf.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 21 Oct. 18/2 This same peculiar dead-leaf colour.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 21 Oct. 18/2 Some folds of dead-leaf-coloured crêpe de Chine.
1918 E. 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.
1930 R. Lehmann Note in Music 35 The dead-leaf colour of the walls gave back a feeble reflection.
dead load n. (a) (see sense A. 29); (b) plural (U.S. colloquial), great quantities.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > (a) great quantity or amount
felec825
muchc1230
good wone1297
plentyc1300
bushelc1374
sight1390
mickle-whata1393
forcea1400
manynessa1400
multitudea1400
packc1400
a good dealc1430
greata1450
sackful1484
power1489
horseloadc1500
mile1508
lump1523
a deal?1532
peckc1535
heapa1547
mass1566
mass1569
gallon1575
armful1579
cart-load1587
mickle1599
bushelful1600–12
a load1609
wreck1612
parisha1616
herd1618
fair share1650
heapa1661
muchness1674
reams1681
hantle1693
mort1694
doll?1719
lift1755
acre1759
beaucoup1760
ton1770
boxload1795
boatload1807
lot1811
dollop1819
swag1819
faggald1824
screed1826
Niagara1828
wad1828
lashings1829
butt1831
slew1839
ocean1840
any amount (of)1848
rake1851
slather1857
horde1860
torrent1864
sheaf1865
oodlesa1867
dead load1869
scad1869
stack1870
jorum1872
a heap sight1874
firlot1883
oodlings1886
chunka1889
whips1888
God's quantity1895
streetful1901
bag1917
fid1920
fleetful1923
mob1927
bucketload1930
pisspot1944
shitload1954
megaton1957
mob-o-ton1975
gazillion1978
buttload1988
shit ton1991
1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad lvii. 616 The old man's got dead loads of books.
1873 ‘M. Twain’ & C. D. Warner Gilded Age xxvii. 247 There's dead loads of peat down there somewhere.
dead march n. a piece of solemn music played at a funeral procession, esp. at a military funeral; a funeral march.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > obsequies > [noun] > a funeral > funeral procession > music accompanying
dead march1603
funeral march1633
society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > type of piece > [noun] > march
march1588
dead march1603
funeral march1633
death march1762
quickstepc1790
quick march1791
wedding-march1850
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 827 The ensigns were..let fall... A dead march sounded, and heauie silence commaunded to be kept through all the campe.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xxi. 213 That's the Dead March in Saul. They bury soldiers to it.
dead marine n. (see dead marine at marine n. 2d).
dead metal n. metal left unburnished.
ΚΠ
1874 E. H. Knight Dict. Mech. Dead-metal, metal, such as gold or silver, left with dead or lustreless..surface.
dead muzzler n. Nautical a direct head-wind. Cf. nose-ender n.
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the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [noun] > wind as means of propulsion > dead ahead
noser1756
muzzler1857
dead muzzler1874
nose-ender1907
1874 W. M. Baines Narr. of Edward Crewe 160 The breeze that had brought us along so famously was a ‘dead muzzler’ for them.
1893 Sloane-Stanley Remin. Midshipm. Life xxxiii. 448 The following morning there was a nice breeze, but a dead muzzler.
1937 Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Apr. 303/1 With the wind a deadmuzzler, he found that the boat..sailed herself better than anyone could have done it for her.
1974 F. Mowat Boat who wouldn't Float viii. 86 The wind picked up from sou'east, a dead muzzler right on our bows.
ˈdead-office n. the office or service for the burial of the dead.
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the world > life > death > obsequies > religious rites > [noun] > funeral service
funeral1621
burial-service1726
dead-office1858
1858 F. Faber tr. D. Bartoli & J. P. Maffei 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.
dead oil n. a name given to those products of the distillation of coal-tar which are heavier than water; also called heavy oil.
ΚΠ
1849 Mansfield in Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 1 250 The heavy oil whose extrication forms the second period of the process, is technically called ‘dead oil’.
1854 E. Ronalds & T. Richardson Knapp's Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 135 More heat [is] applied, until the distillation of the dead oil is complete.
1875 R. Hunt & F. W. Rudler Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) III. 395 The dead oils..are found in the very last portions that pass in the distillation of coal-tar.
dead-plate n. an ungrated iron plate at the mouth of a furnace, on which coal is coked before being pushed upon the grate.
ΚΠ
1855 Lardner's Museum Sci. & Art v The fuel..should be laid on that part of the grate nearest to the fire door, called the dead plates.
1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 126 s.v. The gases evolved on the dead-plate pass over the grate and are burned.
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society > law > legal obligation > bond or recognizance > requiring or giving legal security > [noun] > legal security > mortgage
wadset1449
mortgagec1450
thirlage1578
hypothec1592
encumber1612
dead-pledge1658
mortgage bond1853
poultice1932
1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words 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.
dead props n. loaded shells used in cheating at the game of props (prop n.4).
ΚΠ
1868 How Gamblers Win (N.Y.) 99 The professional provides himself with what are called dead props, with which he can throw ‘nicks’ or ‘outs’ at pleasure.
ˈdead-ˈrising n. Nautical ‘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).
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1664 E. Bushnell Compl. Ship-wright 10 Then I set off the Dead Rising.
1691 W. Petty Treat. Naval Philos. in T. Hale Acct. New Inventions 120 The..Stern-post, and Dead-rising up the Tuck.
1850 J. Greenwood Sailor's Sea-bk. 114.
ˈdead-room n. a room in which dead bodies are kept.
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the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > preparation or treatment of corpse > [noun] > mortuary
lich-housec1200
coffin-house1611
dead-house1812
dead-room1835
funeral house1850
mortuary1864
hearse-house1870
slumber room1936
1835 N. P. Willis Pencillings I. i. 16 My friend proposed to me to look into the dead-room.
dead rope n. (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.
ΚΠ
1751 Chambers's Cycl. (ed. 7) Suppl. Dead ropes, in a ship, are such as are not running, i.e. do not run in any block.
1846–54 G. Oliver Monasticon Exon. 269 Rung with a half wheel, or dead rope.
1872 H. T. Ellacombe Bells of Church x. 359 At this time..the bells were altered from the dead rope pull to the sally.
dead-share n. (see quot. 1867, and cf. dead pay n.).
ΚΠ
1517 in Archaeologia 47 311 For xviij dedshares..at v.s. a moneth— vj. li. vj. s.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher 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.
dead sheave n. ‘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.).
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1857 J. G. Wilkinson Egyptians 112 A single square sail..raised or lowered by lifts running in dead-sheeve holes at the top of the mast.
dead-shore n. (see quot. 1849).
ΚΠ
1823 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 584 Dead-shoar.
1849 J. Weale Rudim. Dict. Terms Archit. i. 138/2 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.
dead-sick adj. (a) as sick as one can be, prostrate with sickness; †(b) sick unto death, death-sick (common in Coverdale).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [adjective] > mortally sick or wounded
dead-sick1535
gored1577
death-sick1617
à la mort1700
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > digestive disorders > [adjective] > affected by nausea > types of nausea
dead-sick1535
seasicka1566
airsick1785
travel sick1833
land-sick1846
trainsick1896
carsick1908
space-sick1912
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Kings xx. 1 At that tyme was Ezechias deedsicke. [So Isa. xxxviii. 1, John iv. 47, etc.]
1621 S. Ward Life of Faith xii. 94 When thou..(as in a Sea-sicknesse) art dead sicke for the present, remember thou shalt bee the better..after.
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the world > life > death > killing > man-killer or homicide > [noun]
manslagheOE
manquellera1250
men-quellerc1325
manslayera1382
men-slayera1400
homicide1421
man-killera1500
dead-slayer1535
kill-man1598
man-slaughterer?1611
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Josh. xx. A Fre cities..that a deedsleyer which sleyeth a soule vnawarres..may flye thither.
dead-smooth adj. said of the finest quality of file.
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1874 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. (at cited word) The grades [of files] are as follows:—Rough. Middle-cut. Bastard. Second-cut. Smooth. Dead-smooth.
1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 79 Dead Smooth, the cut of the finest kind of file.
dead-space n. see quot. 1887.
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1887 T. L. Brunton Text-bk. Pharmacol. (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.
dead stick n. Aeronautics colloquial (originally U.S.) (see quot. 1934).
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1932 Word Study Jan. 3/2 The use of the phrase ‘a dead stick’ by some aviators.
1934 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Dead stick (Aviation), a propeller that has ceased to revolve because the engine has stopped. — dead-stick adj.
1943 C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 24 Dead stick, engine stopped.
dead-stick landing n. a landing made with the engine ‘dead’.
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society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > specific flying operations or procedures > [noun] > landing
landing1784
alighting1914
air landing1919
touchdown1935
dead-stick landing1946
set-down1951
1946 B. Sutton Jungle Pilot 40 Poor Jimmy had had his motor stopped and was forced to make a ‘dead stick’ landing on the aerodrome.
dead stock n. (also deadstock) (a) (see sense A. 20b); (b) (see stock n.1 53a).
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the world > food and drink > farming > [noun] > farm-stock
stock1519
steelbow1532
strength1594
farm stock1680
stockinga1732
farming stock1749
dead stock1836
society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > stocks, shares, or bonds > [noun]
capital1569
capital stock1569
security1746
financial instrument1798
dead stock1836
1836 C. P. Traill Backwoods of Canada 26 Live and dead stock that go or are taken on board.
1879 J. Scott Farm Valuer ix. 97 Interest is charged on the dead stock and the working cattle.
1958 Times 1 July p. i/7 His capital invested in livestock, deadstock and equipment.
dead-stroke n. Billiards see quot. 1873.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > billiards, pool, or snooker > [noun] > actions or types of play > type of stroke
hazard1674
carambole1775
carom1779
cannon1802
screw1825
sidestroke1834
following stroke1837
cannonade1844
five-stroke1847
follow1850
scratch1850
fluke1857
jenny1857
bank shot1859
angle shot1860
draw shot1860
six-stroke1861
run-through1862
spot1868
quill1869
dead-stroke1873
loser1873
push1873
push stroke1873
stab1873
stab screw1873
draw1881
force1881
plant1884
anchor cannon1893
massé1901
angle1902
cradle-cannon1907
pot1907
jump shot1909
carry-along1913
snooker1924
1873 J. Bennett & ‘Cavendish’ Billiards 193 A dead-stroke is played by striking the white gently in the centre, or, if anything, very slightly below it.
ˈdead-struck adj. struck dead; figurative struck with horror, paralyzed, etc.
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the mind > emotion > fear > physical symptoms of fear > [adjective] > petrified or frozen
numbed1553
dead-strookena1593
dead-struck1597
petrified1720
1597 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 1st 3 Bks. i. iii. 7 Appall The dead stroke audience.
1840 G. Darley in Wks. of Beaumont & Fletcher I. Introd. p. xxxvii Shakspeare himself scrawls bytimes with a dead-struck hand.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > physical symptoms of fear > [adjective] > petrified or frozen
numbed1553
dead-strookena1593
dead-struck1597
petrified1720
a1593 C. Marlowe Hero & Leander (1598) i. sig. Bijv With fear of death dead strooken.
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the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > excretions > perspirations > [noun] > sweat
swotec897
need-sweat?c1225
sweata1400
dead-sweat1609
muck sweat1627
strigment1646
mador1650
breathing sweat1657
lather1660
dew1674
cold sweat1707
death sweat1725
perspiration1725
toil-drop1802
persp.1923
1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. 390 Having a dead sweat comming all over him, he died within a while after.
dead time n. (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.
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1909 Cent. 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.
1949 Electronic Engin. 21 455 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.
1963 B. 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.
1966 Electronics 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.
ˈdead-tops n. (also dead-top (attributive form)) a disease of trees (see quot. 1706).
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1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) 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.
a1711 T. Ken Sion i, in Wks. (1721) IV. 320 When they saw a dead-top Oak decline.
dead-turn n. see quot. 1888.
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1888 S. P. Thompson Dynamo-electr. Machinery (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.
dead wagon n. U.S. a vehicle for conveying the dead.
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1894 Outing 24 7/1 Dead wagons, hospital ambulances and sanitary corps vehicles were the most prominent objects in the streets.
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society > trade and finance > financial dealings > moneylending > [noun] > loan > on security > mortgage
dead wed1340
mortgagec1450
poultice1932
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 36 Hy betakeþ hyre londes and hare eritage ine wed and dead wed.
1609 J. Skene tr. Regiam Majestatem 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.
dead white n. (also dead-white) (a) flat or lustreless white; (b) absolute white; pure white; also as adj.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > white or whiteness > [adjective] > pure white
all-whiteOE
dead white1794
the world > matter > colour > named colours > white or whiteness > [adjective] > dull white
dead white1794
1794 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) I. 327 Its colour white, two opposite faces silvery white, two others dead white, or yellowish.
1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 640 If it is to be finished flat, or, as the painters style it, dead white, grey, fawn, &c.
1857 G. A. Lawrence Guy Livingstone xxx The straight, beautifully-turned ankle, cased in dead-white silk.
1863 Mrs. H. Wood Verner's Pride III. xx. 212 The dead white of the roses was not more utterly colourless than Sibylla's face.
1920 R. Macaulay Potterism ii. i. 67 Jane in a square-cut, high-waisted, dead white frock.
1922 D. H. Lawrence England my England 119 She turned white—dead white.
Draft additions June 2017
dead rubber n. Sport a fixture or match in which the outcome is of no real consequence to either side, usually after the winner of a best of series has already been ascertained.
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1959 Manch. Guardian 15 June 8/7 When all passion was spent, Ayala played Davies in a final ‘dead rubber’ that did not matter very much.
1985 Times 3 Dec. 28/6 Only Glen Brumby played for uninhibited victory over Qaiser in the dead rubber.
2013 R. O'Gara & G. Thornley Ronan O'Gara ix. 154 There are also very few dead rubbers [in the Heineken Cup] because the scrap for the final two quarter-final places offers a lifeline to almost everyone.
Draft additions December 2002
slang. to be dead meat: to be dead, esp. to have been killed; to be facing certain doom; (frequently hyperbolically) to be in serious trouble.Often in proleptic use, of one's own (or another's) likely fate.
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1849 E. 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.
1865 H. L. Williams Joaquin 44 Drop your belts on the ground, or you're dead meat!
1937 G. 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.
1974 ‘D. Gober’ Black Cop 126 Without his magnum he would be dead meat in a fire fight.
2000 J. Goodwin Danny Boy x. 216 I was dead meat, and I knew it, but it was too late now.
Draft additions January 2009
dead ball n. Baseball (historical) attributive designating the period prior to the 1920 season, when bouncier balls were introduced; of or relating to this period; cf. sense A. 16c, lively ball era at lively adj. 12.
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1931 Washington Post 22 June 11/1 With the introduction of the lively baseball, the greatest batters of the dead ball era were supplanted by the Ruths, the Wilsons, the Gehrigs and the Kleins.
1991 L. Koppett New Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball 96 Pitchers..are even more susceptible to being distracted than the dead-ball pitchers were—with the hazard of home runs being hit off mistakes.
2006 J. Reisler Great Day in Cooperstown iv. 58 Those dead ball days when long flies were rare.
Draft additions December 2002
dead cat bounce n. Stock Market slang (originally 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.
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1985 Financial 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.
1996 N.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.
2001 Washington 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.
Draft additions August 2004
dead president n. [with allusion to the portraits of statesmen found on U.S. banknotes] U.S. slang a U.S. banknote; chiefly in plural.
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society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > paper money > [noun] > a banknote
bank bill1682
bill1682
note1695
money bill1713
banknote1759
post-note1788
screen1789
stiff1823
flimsy1824
shin-plaster1824
billet1837
pennif1862
toadskin1867
currency note1891
dead president1944
1944 D. Burley Orig. Handbk. Harlem Jive 136 Dead President, a dollar bill, paper money of any denomination.
1970 L. Rainwater Behind Ghetto Walls 330 I want me a 1965 Cadillac and some dead presidents (money) in my pocket.
1997 C. 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.
Draft additions March 2007
dead tree n. and adj. colloquial (originally Computing) (a) n. (in plural) paper (cf. treeware n. 2); (b) adj. printed on paper; of or designating print media, as opposed to electronic media; frequently in dead tree edition.
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1991 E. S. Raymond New Hacker's Dict. 129 Hackers seldom read paper documentation... A common comment on this is ‘You can't grep dead trees’.
1995 Ledger (Florida) (Nexis) 24 Mar. 6 c There's a lot here, including much material that goes beyond what's in the dead-tree edition.
1998 Time 3 Aug. 77/2 Internet companies..can sell ads..much more efficiently than either TV or off-line, dead-tree media.
2004 Village Voice (N.Y.) 8 Dec. 16/1 Don't use Evite. Send out a mass bcc'ed e-mail..or invites on dead trees.
2006 Guardian (Nexis) 6 Apr. 2 We shouldn't expect to see ebooks replace dead tree material.
Draft additions December 2013
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1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus 256 Angry byles, such as in some mens legges the late wrytars call the deed evill [L. malum mortuum].
1591 J. Hester tr. J. Du Chesne Breefe Aunswere Expos. I. Aubertus f. 31v Specially to cure the Mophew [sic], the Dead euill, the Wolfe, and all maligne vlcers, for that tincture [of Antimoni] purgeth black bloud and all other viscious humors.
1662 tr. F. Plater et al. Golden Pract. Physick (new ed.) 515/1 These [sc. spots on the skin] are whiter then the spots called Leucæ..; others are blackish called Malæ, both are ordinarily called Malum mortuum, or the dead Evill.
Draft additions March 2014
dead white male n. usu. depreciative (originally and chiefly U.S.) (also more fully dead white European male) a dead Caucasian male writer, philosopher, etc., whose pre-eminence, esp. in academic study, is challenged as disproportionate to his cultural significance, and attributed to a historical bias towards his gender and ethnic group; = DWEM n.
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1985 Winchester (Va.) Star 14 May 14/5 Davies said curriculum reform is being used in..dangerous ways... It is being used ‘to assert the primacy of a set of values which are essentially those of dead, white males.’
1995 D. Marc Bonfire of Humanities 32 Moby Dick, a big fat book by a dead white male about a big fat white sea mammal.
2003 Bk. Hist. 6 259 The ‘dead white European males’ who had traditionally made up the Western literary canon.
2012 D. V. Goska Save send Delete 46 Nothing could be more subversive than a white woman playing a black woman playing a dead white male.
dead white man n. usu. depreciative (originally and chiefly U.S.) (also more fully dead white European man)= dead white male n.
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1980 N.Y. Times 15 June ii. d33/6 She had forgotten about her own work and was involved ‘in fruitless combat with myself’ about ‘the works of dead white men.’
1999 R. Berns McGown Muslims in Diaspora ii. 60 Realigning the canon of received wisdom customarily taught in liberal arts colleges, the Great Works of history and literature, written primarily by Dead White European Men.
2011 Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.) (Nexis) 9 Feb. b6 All cultures are deemed equal, so no longer are children required to read great literature or learn about ‘dead white men’.
Draft additions June 2016
dead in the water.
a. Nautical. Of a ship: motionless, unable to move; completely without power or means of forward motion.
ΚΠ
1871 Times of India 17 Feb. 2/7 Immediately after the sea..broke on board the vessel, she refused to answer her helm, and was lying dead in the water.
1902 Rec. Proc. Court Inq. Case Rear-Admiral W. S. Schley, 1901 I. 1114 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (57th Congr., 1st Sess.: House of Representatives Doc. 485 pt. I) CIII Q. You have spoken of the Texas lying dead in the water... A. Apparently dead in the water. She might have been turning over slowly.
1939 Motor-Boating Feb. 14/2 Indicating the vessel is dead in the water when the vessel actually has headway, although her engines had been stopped, is a clear violation of Article 15 (b).
1973 Boating Aug. 28/2 Someday when a nice breeze is blowing, take your boat out, stop, and after you're dead in the water throw a piece of wood over the side. Then watch how much faster you drift than the piece of wood.
2011 C. Dickon Foreign Burial Amer. War Dead ii. 13 In less than fifteen minutes, the Chesapeake was dead in the water.
b. figurative. Unable to function effectively; without hope of future progress or success; finished, thwarted, doomed.In quot. 1967 as part of an extended metaphor.
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1967 Anniston (Alabama) Star 30 June 3/2 If Michigan Gov. George Romney is ‘dead in the water’ as is claimed, some potent fellow Republican governors..are waging a massive effort to get him sailing again.
1973 N.Y. Times 6 Apr. 57/5 Congress won't stand for higher commission rates... I think this is dead in the water.
1992 N. Ryan & J. Jenkins Miracle Man x. 120 We knew then we were dead in the water. No U.S. club was going to give me $4 million.
2013 Daily Tel. 6 Feb. 17/5 The relationship had been dead in the water for some time.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online December 2019).
† deadv.
/dɛd/, U.S. /dɛd/ Obsolete except in local or nonce-use.
I. intransitive.
1. To become dead.
a. literal. To die.
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the world > life > death > [verb (intransitive)]
forsweltc888
sweltc888
adeadeOE
deadc950
wendeOE
i-wite971
starveOE
witea1000
forfereOE
forthfareOE
forworthc1000
to go (also depart , pass, i-wite, chare) out of this worldOE
queleOE
fallOE
to take (also nim, underfo) (the) deathOE
to shed (one's own) blood?a1100
diec1135
endc1175
farec1175
to give up the ghostc1175
letc1200
aswelta1250
leavea1250
to-sweltc1275
to-worthc1275
to yield (up) the ghost (soul, breath, life, spirit)c1290
finea1300
spilla1300
part?1316
to leese one's life-daysa1325
to nim the way of deathc1325
to tine, leave, lose the sweatc1330
flit1340
trance1340
determinec1374
disperisha1382
to go the way of all the eartha1382
to be gathered to one's fathers1382
miscarryc1387
shut1390
goa1393
to die upa1400
expirea1400
fleea1400
to pass awaya1400
to seek out of lifea1400–50
to sye hethena1400
tinea1400
trespass14..
espirec1430
to end one's days?a1439
decease1439
to go away?a1450
ungoc1450
unlivec1450
to change one's lifea1470
vade1495
depart1501
to pay one's debt to (also the debt of) naturea1513
to decease this world1515
to go over?1520
jet1530
vade1530
to go westa1532
to pick over the perch1532
galpa1535
to die the death1535
to depart to God1548
to go home1561
mort1568
inlaikc1575
shuffle1576
finish1578
to hop (also tip, pitch over, drop off, etc.) the perch1587
relent1587
unbreathe1589
transpass1592
to lose one's breath1596
to make a die (of it)1611
to go offa1616
fail1623
to go out1635
to peak over the percha1641
exita1652
drop1654
to knock offa1657
to kick upa1658
to pay nature her due1657
ghost1666
to march off1693
to die off1697
pike1697
to drop off1699
tip (over) the perch1699
to pass (also go, be called, etc.) to one's reward1703
sink1718
vent1718
to launch into eternity1719
to join the majority1721
demise1727
to pack off1735
to slip one's cable1751
turf1763
to move off1764
to pop off the hooks1764
to hop off1797
to pass on1805
to go to glory1814
sough1816
to hand in one's accounts1817
to slip one's breatha1819
croak1819
to slip one's wind1819
stiffen1820
weed1824
buy1825
to drop short1826
to fall (a) prey (also victim, sacrifice) to1839
to get one's (also the) call1839
to drop (etc.) off the hooks1840
to unreeve one's lifeline1840
to step out1844
to cash, pass or send in one's checks1845
to hand in one's checks1845
to go off the handle1848
to go under1848
succumb1849
to turn one's toes up1851
to peg out1852
walk1858
snuff1864
to go or be up the flume1865
to pass outc1867
to cash in one's chips1870
to go (also pass over) to the majority1883
to cash in1884
to cop it1884
snuff1885
to belly up1886
perch1886
to kick the bucket1889
off1890
to knock over1892
to pass over1897
to stop one1901
to pass in1904
to hand in one's marble1911
the silver cord is loosed1911
pip1913
to cross over1915
conk1917
to check out1921
to kick off1921
to pack up1925
to step off1926
to take the ferry1928
peg1931
to meet one's Maker1933
to kiss off1935
to crease it1959
zonk1968
cark1977
to cark it1979
to take a dirt nap1981
c950 Lindisf. Gosp. John viii. 21 And in synno iuero deadageð.
c975 Rushw. Gosp. In synnum iowrum ge deodigað.
c1050 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 408/6 Fatescit, adeadaþ.]
c1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 752 The seed of thorn in it wol dede and dote.
c1425 Seven Sag. 623 (P.) The holde tre bygan to dede.
b. figurative. To lose vitality, force, or vigour; to become numb; to lose heat or glow.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > become less violent or severe [verb (intransitive)] > lose vigour or intensity
swindOE
wane1297
forslacka1300
keelc1325
deadc1384
abatea1387
flag1639
to go off1642
subsidea1645
slacken1651
flat1654
lower1699
relax1701
deaden1723
entame1768
sober1825
lighten1827
sletch1847
slow1849
languish1855
bate1860
to slow up1861
to slow down1879
c1384 G. Chaucer Hous of Fame ii. 44 Al my felynge gan to dede.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §774 Iron, as soon as it is out of the Fire, deadeth straight-ways.
1654 T. Fuller Ephemeris Parliamentaria Pref. sig. ¶4 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).
ΚΠ
1848 Oration before H.L. of I.O. of O.F. Be ready, in fine, to cut, to drink, to smoke, to dead.
II. transitive.
3. To make dead (literal and figurative); to cause to die; to put to death, kill, slay, destroy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > kill [verb (transitive)]
swevec725
quelmeOE
slayc893
quelleOE
of-falleOE
ofslayeOE
aquellc950
ayeteeOE
spillc950
beliveOE
to bring (also do) of (one's) life-dayOE
fordoa1000
forfarea1000
asweveOE
drepeOE
forleseOE
martyrOE
to do (also i-do, draw) of lifeOE
bringc1175
off-quellc1175
quenchc1175
forswelta1225
adeadc1225
to bring of daysc1225
to do to deathc1225
to draw (a person) to deathc1225
murder?c1225
aslayc1275
forferec1275
to lay to ground, to earth (Sc. at eird)c1275
martyrc1300
strangle1303
destroya1325
misdoa1325
killc1330
tailc1330
to take the life of (also fro)c1330
enda1340
to kill to (into, unto) death1362
brittena1375
deadc1374
to ding to deathc1380
mortifya1382
perisha1387
to dight to death1393
colea1400
fella1400
kill out (away, down, up)a1400
to slay up or downa1400
swelta1400
voida1400
deliverc1400
starvec1425
jugylc1440
morta1450
to bring to, on, or upon (one's) bierc1480
to put offc1485
to-slaya1500
to make away with1502
to put (a person or thing) to silencec1503
rida1513
to put downa1525
to hang out of the way1528
dispatch?1529
strikea1535
occidea1538
to firk to death, (out) of lifec1540
to fling to deathc1540
extinct1548
to make out of the way1551
to fet offa1556
to cut offc1565
to make away?1566
occise1575
spoil1578
senda1586
to put away1588
exanimate1593
unmortalize1593
speed1594
unlive1594
execute1597
dislive1598
extinguish1598
to lay along1599
to make hence1605
conclude1606
kill off1607
disanimate1609
feeze1609
to smite, stab in, under the fifth rib1611
to kill dead1615
transporta1616
spatch1616
to take off1619
mactate1623
to make meat of1632
to turn up1642
inanimate1647
pop1649
enecate1657
cadaverate1658
expedite1678
to make dog's meat of1679
to make mincemeat of1709
sluice1749
finisha1753
royna1770
still1778
do1780
deaden1807
deathifyc1810
to lay out1829
cool1833
to use up1833
puckeroo1840
to rub out1840
cadaverize1841
to put under the sod1847
suicide1852
outkill1860
to fix1875
to put under1879
corpse1884
stiffen1888
tip1891
to do away with1899
to take out1900
stretch1902
red-light1906
huff1919
to knock rotten1919
skittle1919
liquidate1924
clip1927
to set over1931
creasea1935
ice1941
lose1942
to put to sleep1942
zap1942
hit1955
to take down1967
wax1968
trash1973
ace1975
c1374 G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. iv. iv. 127 Aftir þat þe body is dedid by þe deþe.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 13070 Herodias couet Iohn to dede.
1591 E. Spenser Teares of Muses in Complaints 210 Our pleasant Willy..is dead..With whom all joy and jolly merriment Is also deaded.
1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. Iv Tree rootes..stubbed downe to the grounde, yet were they not vtterly deaded.
c1624 T. Lushington Resurrect. Serm. in Phenix (1708) II. 480 This would murder His divinity, and dead His immortality.
1677 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. IV iv. 140 By burning to set a marque, or to dead the flesh.
4. figurative. To deprive of some form of vitality; to deaden. Also as adjective deaded.
a. To deprive of sensation or consciousness; to stupefy, benumb.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > physical insensibility > render physically insensible [verb (transitive)]
astone1340
dead1382
stony1382
dazea1400
astonish1530
benumb1530
mortifya1533
numb1561
dozen1576
pave1635
deaden1684
torpedoa1772
torpefy1808
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) 1 Sam. xxv. 37 And the herte of hym with yn forth is deed [v.r. deadyd, deadid, dedid].
1616 B. Jonson Every Man out of his Humor (rev. ed.) i. iii, in Wks. I. 95 O my senses, Why loose you not your powers, and become Dull'd, if not deadded [1600 blunted] with this spectacle?
1651 J. French Art Distillation iv. 96 It..quickens any deaded member, as in the palsie.
1702 R. L'Estrange tr. Josephus Jewish Antiq. vii. x, in Wks. 206 His Hearing was Deaded, and Lost.
b. To deprive of force or vigour.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > make less violent or severe [verb (transitive)] > cause to lose vitality or vigour
languisha1464
castrate1554
damp1564
dead1586
flag1602
wooden1641
dispirit1647
deaden1684
disvigorate1694
devitalize1849
narcotize1852
wilt1855
woodenize1877
abirritate1882
1586 Epit. Sidney in E. Spenser Wks. (Globe) 572/2 Endlese griefe, which deads my life, yet knowes not how to kill.
a1631 W. Laud Serm. (1847) 13 Let nothing dead your spirits in God's and your country's service.
a1652 A. Wilson Hist. Great Brit. (1653) 95 This..deaded the matter so, that it lost the Cause.
1687 T. Shadwell tr. Juvenal Tenth Satyr Ded. sig. A iijv 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.
ΚΠ
a1655 R. Robinson Christ All (1656) 108 Carnal security deads the heart.
1676 M. Hale Contempl. Moral & Divine (new ed.) 426 I have been very jealous..of wounding..or deading my Conscience.
d. To make dead or insensible to something.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > absence of emotion > make emotionally unfeeling [verb (transitive)] > to something
strange1390
dead1612
1612 T. Taylor Αρχὴν Ἁπάντων: Comm. Epist. Paul to Titus i. 7 Drunkennes is..an oppressing, and deading of it [the heart] unto dutie.
1658 W. Gurnall Christian in Armour: 2nd Pt. 479 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > taste and flavour > insipidity > render insipid [verb (transitive)]
disseason1582
pall1601
dead1611
deaden1683
the world > food and drink > drink > manufacture of alcoholic drink > [verb (transitive)] > make flat or insipid
dead1611
deaden1683
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] > put out or extinguish fire, pain, etc.
aquenchc1000
adweschOE
quenchc1175
extinct?a1475
out1502
dead1611
stifle1629
kill1934
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > non-resonance > non-resonant sound [verb (transitive)] > deaden
damp1564
dead1611
deaden1726
absorb1791
muffle1832
mute1841
the world > space > shape > bluntness > make blunt [verb (transitive)]
blunta1398
dullc1440
rebate1468
obtusec1487
bate1535
abate1548
turn1560
unedgea1625
retund1691
dead1719
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Buffeté,..deaded, as wine that hath taken wind, or hath beene mingled with water.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §158 If a Bell hath Cloth or Silk wrapped about it, it deadeth the Sound more.
1652 J. Wright tr. J.-P. Camus Nature's Paradox 100 The Ashes of Love, whose coals were deaded on a sodain.
1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden i [Walnut oil] is better for Painters' use to illustrate a white colour than Linseed Oyl, which deadeth it.
1719 in T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth V. 163 Common Prey so deads her Dart, It scarce can wound a noble Game.
1748 J. Thomson Castle of Indolence 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.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > absence of movement > render immobile [verb (transitive)] > stop the movement of
withdrawa1300
check1393
stayc1440
stopc1440
acheckc1450
dead1602
deaden1661
in1825
still1850
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > be of no avail to [verb (transitive)] > have no effect upon > render ineffectual
voida1340
mortifyc1390
to lay in water?c1425
frustrate1471
stint1509
mutilatec1570
dead1602
unvirtuate1611
ineffectuate1633
nonplus1640
1602 R. Carew Surv. Cornwall ii. f. 155v Great trusses of hay..to blench the defendants sight, and dead their shot.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §15 Yet it doth not dead the Motion.
1663 S. Pepys Diary 15 Apr. Which..in dry weather, turns to dust and deads the ball.
1671 Philos. Trans. 1670 (Royal Soc.) 5 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).
ΚΠ
1884 J. Hawthorne in Harper's Mag. Aug. 386/2 Whose..enquiry, ‘What is ethics?’ had deaded so many a promising..student.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
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adj.n.adv.c950
v.c950