dead beat

Related to dead beat: dead beat dads

dead beat

adjective Totally exhausted or fatigued. (Not to be confused with "deadbeat," a lazy, feckless, and/or negligent person.) I was dead beat after working my third 12-hour shift in a row.

dead beat

1. Defeated; also exhausted. For example, That horse was dead beat before the race even began, or, as Charles Dickens put it in Martin Chuzzlewit (1843): "Pull off my boots for me ... I am quite knocked up. Dead beat." [Slang; first half of 1800s]

2. Also, deadbeat. A lazy person or loafer; also, one who does not pay debts. For example, Her housemate knew she was a deadbeat, shirking her share of the chores, or He's a deadbeat; don't count on getting that money back. [Slang; second half of 1800s]

See also: beat, dead

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.

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References in periodicals archive ?

Today's music is from Dead Beat Brass, African Drummers, Cerys Allatt, Gary Stewart, Lillian Strange and Huggy and tomorrow will feature Birds & Beasts, Bryony & Will, Midnight Train, The Ricochet, Klonk.

Make merry at Meltham Beer Festival; IN BRIEF

Another big platter worth tracking down is the Battered Suitcases Oblivion LP (on Dead Beat Records).

NOTES from the UNDERGROUND

Many of you doubtless remember how the music business was described as a goner, toast, dead beat, etc.

Massive hits fuel music industry in the US

Leving cleared the name of a so-called "dead beat" dad and saved him from incarceration and financial ruin by defending him against trumped up child support claims by his ex-wife.

Dad Saved from Incarceration and Nearly $200,000 in Falsely Claimed Child Support

A former editor for Esquire and Outside, Marilyn Johnson has also published a droll paean to librarians, This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All (*** May/June 2010), and an offbeat, behind-the-scenes look at obituary writing, The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries (***1/2 May/ June 2006).

Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble

He added: "At the end of three days of hiking, I am looking forward to relaxing in the Dead Sea - I know I will appreciate it as I'll be dead beat by then."

Man of Steele!

He added: "At the end of three days of hiking, I am looking forward to relaxing in the Dead Sea -- I know I will appreciate it as I'll be dead beat by then."

Eldon Square manager set for trip of a lifetime in aid of The Chronicle Sunshine Fund; Phil Steele will fly to Jordan later this year to take part in a trekking challenge to Petra - and you coudl still join him

You can get ebooks on this page at a discount through blinkboxbooks.com: The Life I Left Behind PS4.99 (RRP PS6.98); The Year Of Taking Chances PS3.99 (RRP PS5.99); The Dead Beat PS1.49 (RRP PS1.99); The Last Days Of Rabbit Hayes PS3.49 (RRP PS4.49)

BOOK CLUB

Doug Johnston, Author of The Dead Beat Amy Poehler's Yes Please.

AUTHORS HELP YOU TURN OVER A NEW LEAF

So those gentlemen blacklisted on that Facebook page Dead Beat Kenya do not deserve my sympathy.

Justice the social media way

THE Dead Beat Echoes play alongside The Charlatans at St George''s Hall on bank Holiday Monday as part of the Liverpool International Music Festival.

Q&A From Slipknot to Lulu via Beck

She was dead beat. Never saw a bird so dead beat." I went nearer to look at the number on the engine to write it in my notebook for later.

SATURDAY SHORT STORY; Digging By John Evans

Old-school members of the Hate Crew were treated to Children Of Bodom and Follow The Reaper, while crowd-pleasers Living Dead Beat, Needled 24/7 and the epic Angels Don't Kill sounded huge.

Brummies show their party metal; REVIEW

On a rare card with two sellers, there was plenty of interest at the auction after Knock Em Dead beat front-running Irish challenger Capall Eile in the 2m6f hurdle.

Working Late lands a touch for Lycett; FONTWELL Thursday

'Knackered' appears under 'fatigued', alongside 'dead beat' and 'whacked', with no mention of vulgar connotations.