dead

From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz. Compare West Frisian dead, dea, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish, Norwegian død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud.

• enPR: dĕd, IPA^(key): /dɛd/

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• Rhymes: -ɛd

dead (comparative deader, superlative deadest)

A dead pigeon

1. (not comparable) No longer living.
   • 1968, Ray Thomas, "Legend of a Mind", The Moody Blues, In Search of the Lost Chord.

     Timothy Leary's dead. / No, no no no, he's outside, looking in.

   All of my grandparents are dead.

2. (hyperbolic) Figuratively, not alive; lacking life.
   • 1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act III, Scene 3:

     When a man's verses cannot be understood, nor a man's good wit seconded with the forward child, understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room.

3. (of another person) So hated that they are absolutely ignored.

   He is dead to me.

   • 1995, Rob Roy, Mary:

     "I will think of you as dead, until my husband makes you that way. Then I will think of you no longer."

4. Doomed; marked for death (literally or as a hyperbole).

   "You come back here this instant! Oh, when I get my hands on you, you're dead, mister!"

   • 2009, Noel Hynd, Midnight in Madrid‎:

     You're dead. A million and one thoughts pounded her at once. But one overpowered all the others. This time you're dead.

5. Without emotion.

   She stood with dead face and limp arms, unresponsive to my plea.

6. Stationary; static.

   the dead load on the floor

   a dead lift

7. Without interest to one of the senses; dull; flat.

   dead air

   a dead glass of soda.

8. Unproductive.

   dead time

   dead fields

9. (not comparable, of a machine, device, or electrical circuit) Completely inactive; currently without power; without a signal.

   OK, the circuit's dead. Go ahead and cut the wire.

   Now that the motor's dead you can reach in and extract the spark plugs.

10. (of a battery) Unable to emit power, being discharged (flat) or faulty.
11. (not comparable) Broken or inoperable.

    That monitor is dead; don’t bother hooking it up.

12. (not comparable) No longer used or required.

    There are several dead laws still on the books regulating where horses may be hitched.

    Is this beer glass dead?

13. (engineering) Not imparting motion or power by design.

    the dead spindle of a lathe

    A dead axle, also called a lazy axle, is not part of the drivetrain, but is instead free-rotating.

14. (not comparable, sports) Not in play.

    Once the ball crosses the foul line, it's dead.

15. (not comparable, golf, of a golf ball) Lying so near the hole that the player is certain to hole it in the next stroke.
16. (not comparable, baseball, slang, 1800s) Tagged out.
17. (not comparable) Full and complete.

    dead stop

    dead sleep

    dead giveaway

    dead silence

18. (not comparable) Exact.

    dead center

    dead aim

    a dead eye

    a dead level

19. Experiencing pins and needles (paresthesia).

    After sitting on my hands for a while, my arms became dead.

20. Constructed so as not to transmit sound; soundless.

    a dead floor

21. (obsolete) Bringing death; deadly.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

22. (law) Cut off from the rights of a citizen; deprived of the power of enjoying the rights of property.

    A person who is banished or who becomes a monk is civilly dead.

• In Middle and Early Modern English, the phrase is dead was more common where the present perfect form has died is common today. Example:

1611, King James Bible

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Gal. 2:21)

• See also Thesaurus:dead

• alive
• living

• deadfall

dead (not comparable)

1. (degree, informal, colloquial) Exactly.

   dead right; dead level; dead flat; dead straight; dead left

   He hit the target dead in the centre.

2. (degree, informal, colloquial) Very, absolutely, extremely.

   dead wrong; dead set; dead serious; dead drunk; dead broke; dead earnest; dead certain; dead slow; dead sure; dead simple; dead honest; dead accurate; dead easy; dead scared; dead solid; dead black; dead white; dead empty

3. Suddenly and completely.

   He stopped dead.

4. (informal) As if dead.

   dead tired; dead quiet; dead asleep; dead pale; dead cold; dead still

   • (Can we date this quote?) Charles Dickens

     I was tired of reading, and dead sleepy.

dead

1. (uncountable, singular only, often with "the") Time when coldness, darkness, or stillness is most intense.

   The dead of night. The dead of winter.

2. (in the plural, with "the", a demonstrative, or a possessive) Those who have died.

   Have respect for the dead.

   The villagers are mourning their dead.

   The dead are always with us, in our hearts.

• (those who have died): deceased

dead (third-person singular simple present deads, present participle deading, simple past and past participle deaded)

1. (transitive) To prevent by disabling; stop.
   • 1826, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Edward Reynolds, Lord Bishop of Norwich, collected by Edward Reynolds, Benedict Riveley, and Alexander Chalmers. pp. 227. London: B. Holdsworth.

     “What a man should do, when finds his natural impotency dead him in spiritual works”

2. (transitive) To make dead; to deaden; to deprive of life, force, or vigour.
   • Chapman

     Heaven's stern decree, / With many an ill, hath numbed and deaded me.

3. (Britain, transitive, slang) To kill.
   • 2006, Leighanne Boyd, Once Upon A Time In The Bricks (page 178)

     This dude at the club was trying to kill us so I deaded him, and then I had to collect from Spice.

   • 2008, Marvlous Harrison, The Coalition (page 106)

     “What, you was just gonna dead him because if that's the case then why the fuck we getting the money?” Sha asked annoyed.

• deaden
• deadliness
• deadly
• deadness
• death
• undead

• dead at OneLook Dictionary Search

• Dade, Edda, adde, dade

From Proto-Germanic *daudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰowHtós, originally a past participle. Cognate with Old Frisian dād (West Frisian dead), Old Saxon dōd, Dutch dood, Old High German tōt (German tot), Old Norse dauðr (Swedish död), Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌸𐍃 (dauþs).

• IPA^(key): /dæːɑ̯d/

dēad

1. dead

• dēadlīċ
• healfdēad

• dēaþ

• Middle English: ded, deed
  • Scots: dede, deed, deid
  • English: dead
  • Yola: deed

• steorfan

Borrowed from English dead or death (with the "th" changed to "d").

• IPA^(key): [deˈad]

dead (plural deads)

1. death, state being dead, state of death

• ädeadöl
• bludamodeadön
• dadeadön
• deadam
• deadamadel
• deadan
• deadanöp
• deadik
• deadio
• deadöf
• deadöfan
• deadöfik
• deadöl
• deadölan
• deadön
• deid
• deidöl
• deidön
• drakideidan
• drakihideidan
• drakijideidan
• edeadöl
• edeadön
• hideadan
• hideadöfan
• hideadölan
• jideadan
• jideadöfan
• jideadölan
• pedeidöl