V. Unrelieved, unbroken; absolute; complete; utmost.
These senses arise out of several of the preceding (cf. 18, 22, 24); and in some cases there is a blending of two or more notions.
18. a. Characterized by absence of physical activity, motion, or sound; profoundly quiet or still. (Cf. B. 2.)
b. Of a house: uninhabited. slang.
c. Mil. 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 in D. 2.)
22. a. Of water, air, etc.: Without motion or current; still, standing. (See also DEAD WATER.)
b. Mining. Having no current of air, unventilated.
c. Of molten metal: thick and sluggish, either from insufficient melting or from having stood too long in a ladle. Cf. DEAD-MELT v.
d. Of ice: see quots.
24. a. Characterized by complete and abrupt cessation of motion, action, or speech: as a dead stop, a sudden complete stop.
b. Characterized by abrupt stoppage of motion without recoil; cf. DEAD BEAT n.1
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.
25. 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’.
b. Flat. Obs.
26. Of calm or silence: Profound, deep (passing into the sense of ‘complete, absolute’: from 18
).
27. Said of the lowest or stillest state of the tide, as dead low water, dead neap: cf. 31.
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.
29. Pressing with its full or unrelieved weight like an inanimate or inert body: see DEAD-WEIGHT. dead load, a load whose weight is constant and invariable; also attrib.
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; freq. colloq., a person or thing that is totally worthless, inefficient, or unsuccessful; a complete failure; an utter waste of time. (Cf. quot. 1757.)
31. a. Absolute, complete, entire, thorough, downright. Also dead-earnest in adjectival use.
[Arising out of various earlier senses.]
b. Quite certain, sure, unerring. (Cf. dead certainty in prec. sense.) 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 2.
c. Exact.
d. Direct, straight. dead wind (Naut.): 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.