dead on (one's) feet

1. Near to the point of collapse or losing consciousness (as due to exhaustion or injury) while still remaining on one's feet; just short of being asleep or unconscious. Doctors in training are expected to endure an unbelievable amount of stress and exhaustion. Surely it is counterproductive forcing them to attend to each of their patients while they're dead on their feet. You're parents of a newborn—of course you're dead on your feet! After a long day of traveling, we were all dead on our feet by the time we finally got to the hotel.

2. Still functioning, but past the point of usefulness or productivity; all but or as good as defeated. The company has managed to remain open, but, truth be told, it's really been dead on its feet for the last year. Our research has been dead on its feet for a while, so I doubt we'll get funded for another year. A: "Do you think filming will continue now that the lead actor has pulled out?" B: "Not a chance. It's dead on its feet."

See also: dead, feet, on

dead on your feet

If you are dead on your feet, you are extremely tired. The police were stumbling around, dead on their feet. I'm usually dead on my feet at the end of the game.

See also: dead, feet, on

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

dead on your feet

extremely tired. informal

This expression was a development from the phrase dead tired , as an exaggerated way of expressing a feeling of exhaustion. Dead is sometimes also used on its own to mean ‘exhausted’.

See also: dead, feet, on

ˌdead on your ˈfeet

extremely tired: She’d just got back from a business trip and was dead on her feet. OPPOSITE: full of beans

See also: dead, feet, on

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