dead

English Online Dictionary. What means dead‎? What does dead mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English ded, deed, from Old English dēad, from Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz.

Compare West Frisian dead, dea, Dutch dood, German tot, Danish, Norwegian død, Norwegian Nynorsk daud.

Pronunciation

• enPR: dĕd, IPA^(key): /dɛd/
• Rhymes: -ɛd
• (West Country) IPA^(key): /diːd/

Adjective

dead (not generally comparable, comparative deader, superlative deadest)

1. (usually not comparable) No longer living; deceased. (Also used as a noun.)
   • 1968, Ray Thomas, "Legend of a Mind", The Moody Blues, In Search of the Lost Chord.

   Have respect for the dead.

   The villagers are mourning their dead.

   The dead are always with us, in our hearts.

2. (usually not comparable) Devoid of living things; barren.
3. (hyperbolic) Figuratively, not alive; lacking life.
4. (of another person) So hated or offensive as to be absolutely shunned, ignored or ostracized.

5. Doomed; marked for death; as good as dead (literally or as a hyperbole).
6. Without emotion; impassive.

7. Stationary; static; immobile or immovable.

8. Without interest to one of the senses; dull; flat.
9. Unproductive; fallow.

10. Past, bygone, vanished.
11. (of a place) Lacking usual activity; unexpectedly quiet or empty of people.

    Antonyms: alive, bustling, busy, crowded, hopping, lively, noisy

12. (not comparable, of a machine, device, or electrical circuit) Completely inactive; currently without power; without a signal; not live.
13. (of a battery) Unable to emit power, being discharged (flat) or faulty.
14. (not comparable) Broken or inoperable.

15. (not comparable) No longer used or required.
16. (engineering) Intentionally designed so as not to impart motion or power.

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

18. (not comparable, golf, of a golf ball) Lying so near the hole that the player is certain to hole it in the next stroke.
19. (not comparable, baseball, slang, 1800s) Tagged out.
20. (not comparable) Full and complete (usually applied to nouns involving lack of motion, sound, activity, or other signs of life).

21. (not comparable) Exact; on the dot.

22. Experiencing pins and needles (paresthesia).

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

23. (acoustics) Constructed so as not to reflect or transmit sound; soundless; anechoic.

24. (obsolete) Bringing death; deadly.
25. (law) Cut off from the rights of a citizen; deprived of the power of enjoying the rights of property.

26. (rare, especially religion, often with "to") Indifferent to; having no obligation toward; no longer subject to or ruled by (sin, guilt, pleasure, etc).
27. (linguistics) Of a syllable in languages such as Thai and Burmese: ending abruptly.

    Antonym: live

Usage notes

• 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)

• In common uses, "has died" usually implies that the death of an organism has come from internal problems, whereas "is dead" is more commonly used to indicate external causes. For example, "Our dog has died," would be commonly used to indicate the death of a pet; whereas "The deer is dead," would be more commonly used in the context of hunting for meat.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:dead

Antonyms

• alive
• live
• living

Translations

Adverb

dead (not comparable)

1. (degree, informal, colloquial) Exactly.

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

4. (informal) As if dead.

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

Translations

Noun

dead (uncountable)

2. (often with "the") Time when coldness, darkness, or stillness is most intense.

   The dead of night. The dead of winter.

3. (with "the") Those (dead people) who have died.

   Will the dead rise again?

Translations

Noun

dead (plural deads)

2. (UK) (usually in the plural) Sterile mining waste, often present as many large rocks stacked inside the workings.
4. (bodybuilding, colloquial) Clipping of deadlift.

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To prevent by disabling; to 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.
3. (transitive, UK, US, slang) To kill.
4. (transitive, African-American Vernacular, slang, by extension) To discontinue or put an end to (something).

Related terms

Derived terms

References

• “dead”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Dade, Edda, adde, dade

Chinese

Etymology

Pseudo back-formation from English deadline.

Pronunciation

Verb

dead

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, chiefly university slang) to be due by; to have a deadline of

   呢份功課今晚dead。 [Hong Kong Cantonese, trad.]
   呢份功课今晚dead。 [Hong Kong Cantonese, simp.]

   ni¹ fan⁶ gung¹ fo³ gam¹ maan^5-1 det¹. [Jyutping]

   This homework is due tonight.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English dead.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛd/

Verb

dead

1. (slang, anglicism) to succeed (in doing something well, "killing it")

Usage notes

The verb is left unconjugated: il dead, il a dead. Usage is limited to the present, as well as an infinitive or a past participle.

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *daud, from Proto-Germanic *daudaz. Cognate with Old Frisian dād, Old Saxon dōd, Old High German tōt, Old Norse dauðr, Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌸𐍃 (dauþs).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dæ͜ɑːd/

Adjective

dēad

1. dead
   • late 9th century, translation of Orosius’ History Against the Pagans

Declension

Derived terms

• dēadboren (“stillborn”)
• dēadlīċ (“mortal”)
• healfdēad (“halfdead”)

Related terms

• dēaþ (“death”)

Descendants

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

See also

• sweltan (“to die”)

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• dïad

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *dīwedom, verbal noun of *dīwedeti (“to stop”) (whence Welsh diwedd (“end, ending”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈdʲe.að]

Noun

dead n (genitive deïd, no plural)

1. end

Declension

Derived terms

• i ndead, i ndïad
  • Irish: i ndiaidh

Related terms

• dí-
• feidid
• dédenach
  • Irish: déanach

Descendants

• Irish: diaidh
• ⇒ Middle Irish: co dead (“forever”, literally “to the end”)
  • Irish: go deo
• Scottish Gaelic: dèidh
• Manx: jei

Mutation

Further reading

• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “dead”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Matasović, Ranko (2009), “dī-wedo-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 100

Volapük

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [deˈad]

Noun

dead (nominative plural deads)

1. death, state of being dead, state of death

Declension

Derived terms