more dead than alive
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more dead than alive
1. Physically, mentally, or emotionally exhausted. He looked more dead than alive by the time he finished the race. These divorce proceedings have me completely worn down and worn out—I feel more dead than alive at the moment.
2. Very unwell or in very poor condition. The poor child was more dead than alive when they finally found him.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
more dead than alive
Fig. exhausted; in very bad condition; near death. (Almost always an exaggeration.) We arrived at the top of the mountain more dead than alive. The marathon runners stumbled one by one over the finish line, more dead than alive.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
more dead than alive
Exhausted, in poor condition, as in By the time I got off that mountain I was more dead than alive. This idiom may be used either hyperbolically or literally. [c. 1900]
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.