dead heat

dead heat

A race or competition in which the opponents are very evenly matched. Their race times have been so close lately that I bet they'll be in a dead heat the whole time. Maddie and Megan finished the race in a dead heat, so we'll have to declare two winners. I had no idea Will was so fast! I did not expect to be in a dead heat with him the whole time.

See also: dead, heat

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

dead heat

A contest in which the competitors are equally matched and neither can win; a tie. For example, The two companies are in a dead heat to get a new personal computer on the market. This term comes from 18th-century British horse racing and is still part of racing terminology. It later was transferred to other kinds of competition.

See also: dead, heat

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dead heat, in a

Tied for first place. The term comes from horse-racing, in which “heat” used to mean simply a race (today its meaning is a bit more specific). It was in use by the late eighteenth century (“The whole race was run head and head, terminating in a dead heat,” Sporting Magazine, 1796). It later was applied to any contest in which there was a tie.

See also: dead

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer