dead

[[t]de̱d[/t]]

♦♦

1) ADJ A person, animal, or plant that is dead is no longer living.

`You're a widow?' - `Yes. My husband's been dead a year now.'...

The group had shot dead another hostage.

...their dead brother.

...old newspapers and dead flowers.

Ant:

alive

N-PLURAL: the N

The dead are people who are dead.

The dead included six people attending a religious ceremony. ...the annual festival when Chinese traditionally honour the dead.

2) ADJ Land or water that is dead contains no living things.

...charred land, mountainsides of dead earth and stumps of trees...

But this water seems dead: it's polluted and horribly stagnant.

3) ADJ-GRADED (disapproval) If you describe a place or a period of time as dead, you do not like it because there is very little activity taking place in it.

...some dead little town where the liveliest thing is the flies...

This made that holiday week a particularly dead period.

Syn:

quiet

4) ADJ Something that is dead is no longer being used or is finished.

The dead cigarette was still between his fingers...

This bottle's dead. But we've got another one.

Syn:

finished

5) ADJ If you say that an idea, plan, or subject is dead, you mean that people are no longer interested in it or willing to develop it any further.

It's a dead issue, Baxter...

But that doesn't mean this brand of politics is dead or dying...

The deal with Chelsea may not, however, be dead.

6) ADJ: usu ADJ n A dead language is no longer spoken or written as a means of communication, although it may still be studied.

We used to grumble that we were wasting time learning a dead language.

7) ADJ: usu v-link ADJ A telephone or piece of electrical equipment that is dead is no longer functioning, for example because it no longer has any electrical power.

On another occasion I answered the phone and the line went dead.

8) ADJ In sport, when a ball is dead, it has gone outside the playing area, or a situation has occurred in which the game has to be temporarily stopped, and none of the players can score points or gain an advantage. [JOURNALISM]

9) ADJ-GRADED A dead sound or colour is dull rather than lively or bright.

`That is correct, Meg,' he answered in his cold, dead voice...

Then he heard a piercing scream echoing down the deep well, ending in a dull, dead thud.

COMB in COLOUR

Dead is also a combining form.

The blood drained from his face, leaving the skin dead white.

10) ADJ: ADJ n (emphasis) Dead is used to mean `complete' or `absolute', especially before the words `centre', `silence', and `stop'.

He adjusted each chesspiece so that it stood dead centre in its square...

They hurried about in dead silence, with anxious faces...

Lila's boat came to a dead stop.

11) ADV: ADV prep/adv/adj (emphasis) Dead means `precisely' or `exactly'.

Mars was visible, dead in the centre of the telescope...

Their arrows are dead on target...

A fishing boat came out of nowhere, dead ahead.

12) ADV: ADV adj/adv/prep (emphasis) Dead is sometimes used to mean `very'. [BRIT, INFORMAL, SPOKEN]

Meadowhall is also dead easy for people to get to...

His poems sound dead boring, actually...

I am dead against the legalisation of drugs.

13) CONVENTION (emphasis) If you reply `Over my dead body' when a plan or action has been suggested, you are emphasizing that you dislike it, and will do everything you can to prevent it. [INFORMAL]

`Let's invite her to dinner.' - `Over my dead body!'

14) PHRASE: v-link PHR (emphasis) If you say that something such as an idea or situation is dead and buried, you are emphasizing that you think that it is completely finished or past, and cannot happen or exist again in the future.

I thought the whole business was dead and buried...

In two years, the British coal industry will be dead and buried.

15) PHRASE: V inflects If you say that a person or animal dropped dead or dropped down dead, you mean that they died very suddenly and unexpectedly.

He dropped dead on the quayside.

16) PHRASE (disapproval) If you tell someone to drop dead, you are insulting them, rudely disagreeing with them, or refusing to do something, or telling them to stop bothering you.

→ See also drop-dead

75% of the firms he called were hostile and told him to `drop dead.'

17) PHRASE: v-link PHR (emphasis) If you say that someone is dead and gone, you are emphasizing that they are dead, and thinking about what happened or will happen after their death.

Often a genius is recognized only after he is dead and gone.

18) PHRASE: v-link PHR (emphasis) If you say that you feel dead or are half dead, you mean that you feel very tired or ill and very weak. [INFORMAL]

I thought you looked half dead at dinner, and who could blame you after that journey...

I feel pretty dead right now.

19) PHRASE If something happens in the dead of night, at dead of night, or in the dead of winter, it happens in the middle part of the night or the winter, when it is darkest or coldest. [LITERARY]

I couldn't fly illegally into a country in the dead of night...

We buried it in the garden at dead of night...

Early one Thursday morning in the dead of winter I awoke to a blizzard.

20) PHRASE: V inflects When Christians say that Jesus Christ rose from the dead or raised someone from the dead, they mean that Jesus came back to life after he had died, or brought a dead person back to life.

21) PHRASE: V inflects If you say that someone or something rises or comes back from the dead, you mean that they become active or successful again after being inactive for a while.

This was a company that, by all appearances, had risen from the dead...

Faldo came back from the dead to win his third Open golf championship.

22) PHRASE: PHR prep, PHR -ing (emphasis) If you say that you wouldn't be seen dead or be caught dead in particular clothes, places, or situations, you are expressing strong dislike or disapproval for them. [INFORMAL]

I wouldn't be seen dead in a straw hat.

...men who wouldn't be seen dead pushing a pram...

I wouldn't be caught dead in such an old-fashioned place.

23) PHRASE: V inflects To stop dead means to suddenly stop happening or moving. To stop someone or something dead means to cause them to suddenly stop happening or moving.

We all stopped dead and looked at it...

She had meant to make a discreet entrance, but conversation stopped dead...

The sight of it stopped them dead.

24) PHRASE: v-link PHR (emphasis) If you say that someone or something is dead in the water, you are emphasizing that they have failed, and that there is little hope of them being successful in the future.

A `no' vote would have left the treaty dead in the water.

25) to flog a dead horse → see flog

a dead loss → see loss

a dead ringer → see ringer

to stop dead in your tracks → see track