Dĕad1, a.
(dĕd), a. [A-S. dead, Goth. dauths, Icel. daudhr, Sw. & Dan. död, O. Sax. dod, D. dood, O. H. Ger. tôt, N. H. Ger. todt. See DIE.]
Sense 1. Deprived of life; put to death; reduced to that state of a being in which the organs of motion and life have irrevocably ceased to perform their functions; as, a dead tree; a dead man. “The queen, my lord, is dead.” Shak.
Seek him with candle, bring him dead or living. Shak.
Sense 2. Destitute of life; inanimate; lifeless; as, dead matter.
Sense 3. Resembling death in appearance or quality; without show of life; as, a dead winter; or dead night; dead darkness; dead sleep.
Sense 4. Without motion; inactive; as, a dead calm; dead weight.
Sense 5. Unproductive; bringing no gain; unprofitable; as, dead capital; dead stock in trade.
Sense 6. Lacking spirit; dull; as, dead coloring, a dead eye, dead fire, &c.
Sense 7. Monotonous or unvaried; as, a dead level or plain; a dead wall.
Sense 8. Producing death; sure as death; fixed; as, a dead shot; a dead certainty.
Sense 9. Wanting in religious spirit and vitality; as, dead faith, dead works, dead in sin.
Sense 10. (Law.) Cut off from the rights of a citizen; deprived of the power of enjoying the rights of property; as, one banished or becoming a monk is civilly dead.
Sense 11. (Engin.) Not imparting motion or power; as, waste steam, which is said to be dead steam, or as the dead spindle of a lathe. See LINE and SPINDLE.
Dead ahead (Naut.), directly ahead;—said of the wind when blowing from that point toward which a vessel would go.—Dead drunk, so drunk as to be completely helpless.—Dead language, a language which is no longer spoken or in common use by a people, and known only in writings, as the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.—Dead letter. (a.) A letter which, after lying for a certain fixed time uncalled for at a post-office, is then sent to the general post-office to be opened. (b.) That which has lost its force or authority by lapse of time, or by custom; that which has fallen into disuse or become obsolete: as, the law has become a dead letter.—Dead letter office, a department of the general post-office where dead letters are examined and disposed of.—Dead lock, an interlocking or counteraction of things, which produces an entire stoppage.
Synonyms—Lifeless; inanimate; dull; gloomy; deceased; extinct. See LIFELESS.