- dead
- dead [ded]adj.[ME ded < OE dēad, akin to ON dauthr, OHG tōt, Goth dauths: orig. pp. of an old v. base appearing in ON deyja, OS dojan, OHG touwen, all < IE base * dheu-, DIE1]1. no longer living; having died2. naturally without life; inanimate [dead stones]3. such as to suggest death; deathlike [a dead faint]4. lacking positive qualities, as of warmth, vitality, interest, brightness, brilliance, etc. [a dead handshake, a dead party, a dead white]5. wholly indifferent; insensible [dead to love]6. without feeling, motion, or power [his arm hung dead at his side]7.a) not burning; extinguished [dead coals]b) extinct [a dead volcano]8. characterized by little or no movement or activity; slack, stagnant, etc. [dead water]9. designating an axle that supports but does not drive a wheel10. having lost resilience or elasticity [a dead tennis ball]11. no longer used or significant; obsolete [dead languages, dead laws]12.a) not fertile; barren [dead soil]b) not yielding a return; unproductive [dead capital]13. certain as death; unerring; sure [a dead shot]14. exact; precise [dead center]15. complete; total; absolute [a dead stop]16. unvarying; undeviating [dead level]17. Informal very tired; exhausted18. Elec.a) having no current passing through [a dead wire]b) having lost its charge [a dead battery]19. Printing set, but no longer needed for use [dead type]20. Sportsa) no longer in play [a dead ball]b) barred by a game's rules from making a particular playn.the time of greatest darkness, most intense cold, etc. [the dead of night, the dead of winter]adv.1. completely; absolutely [dead right]2. directly [dead ahead]——————dead in the water Informal1. at a standstill from the loss of power, momentum, vigor, etc.2. destined for certain failure or ruin; doomed——————☆ dead to rightsInformal in an undeniably incriminating situation; red-handed——————dead to the worldInformal sound asleep——————the deadthose who have dieddeadnessn.SYN.- DEAD is the general word for someone or something that was alive but is no longer so; DECEASED and DEPARTED are both euphemistic, esp. for one who has recently died, but the former is largely a legal, and the latter a religious, usage; LATE always precedes the name or title of one who has recently died [the late Mr. Green ] or of one who preceded the incumbent in some office or function [his late employer ]; DEFUNCT, applied to a person, is now somewhat rhetorical or jocular, but it is also commonly used of something that because of failure no longer exists or functions [a defunct government ]; EXTINCT is applied to a species, race, etc. that has no living member; INANIMATE refers to that which has never had life [inanimate rocks ]; LIFELESS is equivalent to either DEAD or INANIMATE [her lifeless body, lifeless blocks ]
English World dictionary. V. Neufeldt. 2014.
