dead beat
Britishadjective
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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]
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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]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
How woefully The Post covers necrology news, the dead beat.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 19, 2021
He added in another message: “I am not a dead beat I do not get any disability.”
From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2017
Eight of them went straight in, dead beat, and stretched out on the floor near the oil press.
From Time Magazine Archive
But in retail trade a creditor has no recourse against a dead beat except to sue.
From Time Magazine Archive
By the time I got back I was dead beat.
From "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
