from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Dead \Dead\ (d[e^]d), a. [OE. ded, dead, deed, AS. de['a]d; akin
to OS. d[=o]d, D. dood, G. todt, tot, Icel. dau[eth]r, Sw. &
Dan. d["o]d, Goth. daubs; prop. p. p. of an old verb meaning
to die. See {Die}, and cf. {Death}.]
1. Deprived of life; -- opposed to {alive} and {living};
reduced to that state of a being in which the organs of
motion and life have irrevocably ceased to perform their
functions; as, a dead tree; a dead man. "The queen, my
lord, is dead." --Shak.
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The crew, all except himself, were dead of hunger.
--Arbuthnot.
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Seek him with candle, bring him dead or living.
--Shak.
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2. Destitute of life; inanimate; as, dead matter.
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3. Resembling death in appearance or quality; without show of
life; deathlike; as, a dead sleep.
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4. Still as death; motionless; inactive; useless; as, dead
calm; a dead load or weight.
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5. So constructed as not to transmit sound; soundless; as, a
dead floor.
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6. Unproductive; bringing no gain; unprofitable; as, dead
capital; dead stock in trade.
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7. Lacking spirit; dull; lusterless; cheerless; as, dead eye;
dead fire; dead color, etc.
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8. Monotonous or unvaried; as, a dead level or pain; a dead
wall. "The ground is a dead flat." --C. Reade.
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9. Sure as death; unerring; fixed; complete; as, a dead shot;
a dead certainty.
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I had them a dead bargain. --Goldsmith.
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10. Bringing death; deadly. --Shak.
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11. Wanting in religious spirit and vitality; as, dead faith;
dead works. "Dead in trespasses." --Eph. ii. 1.
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12. (Paint.)
(a) Flat; without gloss; -- said of painting which has
been applied purposely to have this effect.
(b) Not brilliant; not rich; thus, brown is a dead color,
as compared with crimson.
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13. (Law) Cut off from the rights of a citizen; deprived of
the power of enjoying the rights of property; as, one
banished or becoming a monk is civilly dead.
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14. (Mach.) Not imparting motion or power; as, the dead
spindle of a lathe, etc. See {Spindle}.
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15. (Elec.) Carrying no current, or producing no useful
effect; -- said of a conductor in a dynamo or motor, also
of a telegraph wire which has no instrument attached and,
therefore, is not in use.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
16. Out of play; regarded as out of the game; -- said of a
ball, a piece, or a player under certain conditions in
cricket, baseball, checkers, and some other games.
[In golf], a ball is said to lie dead when it lies
so near the hole that the player is certain to hole
it in the next stroke. --Encyc. of
Sport.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
{Dead ahead} (Naut.), directly ahead; -- said of a ship or
any object, esp. of the wind when blowing from that point
toward which a vessel would go.
{Dead angle} (Mil.), an angle or space which can not be seen
or defended from behind the parapet.
{Dead block}, either of two wooden or iron blocks intended to
serve instead of buffers at the end of a freight car.
{Dead calm} (Naut.), no wind at all.
{Dead center}, or {Dead point} (Mach.), either of two points
in the orbit of a crank, at which the crank and connecting
rod lie a straight line. It corresponds to the end of a
stroke; as, A and B are dead centers of the crank
mechanism in which the crank C drives, or is driven by,
the lever L.
{Dead color} (Paint.), a color which has no gloss upon it.
{Dead coloring} (Oil paint.), the layer of colors, the
preparation for what is to follow. In modern painting this
is usually in monochrome.
{Dead door} (Shipbuilding), a storm shutter fitted to the
outside of the quarter-gallery door.
{Dead flat} (Naut.), the widest or midship frame.
{Dead freight} (Mar. Law), a sum of money paid by a person
who charters a whole vessel but fails to make out a full
cargo. The payment is made for the unoccupied capacity.
--Abbott.
{Dead ground} (Mining), the portion of a vein in which there
is no ore.
{Dead hand}, a hand that can not alienate, as of a person
civilly dead. "Serfs held in dead hand." --Morley. See
{Mortmain}.
{Dead head} (Naut.), a rough block of wood used as an anchor
buoy.
{Dead heat}, a heat or course between two or more race
horses, boats, etc., in which they come out exactly equal,
so that neither wins.
{Dead horse}, an expression applied to a debt for wages paid
in advance. [Law]
{Dead language}, a language which is no longer spoken or in
common use by a people, and is known only in writings, as
the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
{Dead plate} (Mach.), a solid covering over a part of a fire
grate, to prevent the entrance of air through that part.
{Dead pledge}, a mortgage. See {Mortgage}.
{Dead point}. (Mach.) See {Dead center}.
{Dead reckoning} (Naut.), the method of determining the place
of a ship from a record kept of the courses sailed as
given by compass, and the distance made on each course as
found by log, with allowance for leeway, etc., without the
aid of celestial observations.
{Dead rise}, the transverse upward curvature of a vessel's
floor.
{Dead rising}, an elliptical line drawn on the sheer plan to
determine the sweep of the floorheads throughout the
ship's length.
{Dead-Sea apple}. See under {Apple}.
{Dead set}. See under {Set}.
{Dead shot}.
(a) An unerring marksman.
(b) A shot certain to be made.
{Dead smooth}, the finest cut made; -- said of files.
{Dead wall} (Arch.), a blank wall unbroken by windows or
other openings.
{Dead water} (Naut.), the eddy water closing in under a
ship's stern when sailing.
{Dead weight}.
(a) A heavy or oppressive burden. --Dryden.
(b) (Shipping) A ship's lading, when it consists of heavy
goods; or, the heaviest part of a ship's cargo.
(c) (Railroad) The weight of rolling stock, the live
weight being the load. --Knight.
{Dead wind} (Naut.), a wind directly ahead, or opposed to the
ship's course.
{To be dead}, to die. [Obs.]
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I deme thee, thou must algate be dead. --Chaucer.
Syn: Inanimate; deceased; extinct. See {Lifeless}.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
center \cen"ter\ (s[e^]n"t[~e]r), n. [F. centre, fr. L. centrum,
fr. Gr. ke`ntron any sharp point, the point round which a
circle is described, fr. kentei^n to prick, goad.]
1. A point equally distant from the extremities of a line,
figure, or body, or from all parts of the circumference of
a circle; the middle point or place.
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2. The middle or central portion of anything.
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3. A principal or important point of concentration; the
nucleus around which things are gathered or to which they
tend; an object of attention, action, or force; as, a
center of attaction.
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4. The earth. [Obs.] --Shak.
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5. Those members of a legislative assembly (as in France) who
support the existing government. They sit in the middle of
the legislative chamber, opposite the presiding officer,
between the conservatives or monarchists, who sit on the
right of the speaker, and the radicals or advanced
republicans who occupy the seats on his left, See {Right},
and {Left}.
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6. (Arch.) A temporary structure upon which the materials of
a vault or arch are supported in position until the work
becomes self-supporting.
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7. (Mech.)
(a) One of the two conical steel pins, in a lathe, etc.,
upon which the work is held, and about which it
revolves.
(b) A conical recess, or indentation, in the end of a
shaft or other work, to receive the point of a center,
on which the work can turn, as in a lathe.
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Note: In a lathe the
{live center} is in the spindle of the head stock; the
{dead center} is on the tail stock.
{Planer centers} are stocks carrying centers, when the object
to be planed must be turned on its axis.
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{Center of an army}, the body or troops occupying the place
in the line between the wings.
{Center of a curve} or {Center of a surface} (Geom.)
(a) A point such that every line drawn through the point
and terminated by the curve or surface is bisected at
the point.
(b) The fixed point of reference in polar coordinates. See
{Coordinates}.
{Center of curvature of a curve} (Geom.), the center of that
circle which has at any given point of the curve closer
contact with the curve than has any other circle whatever.
See {Circle}.
{Center of a fleet}, the division or column between the van
and rear, or between the weather division and the lee.
{Center of gravity} (Mech.), that point of a body about which
all its parts can be balanced, or which being supported,
the whole body will remain at rest, though acted upon by
gravity.
{Center of gyration} (Mech.), that point in a rotating body
at which the whole mass might be concentrated
(theoretically) without altering the resistance of the
intertia of the body to angular acceleration or
retardation.
{Center of inertia} (Mech.), the center of gravity of a body
or system of bodies.
{Center of motion}, the point which remains at rest, while
all the other parts of a body move round it.
{Center of oscillation}, the point at which, if the whole
matter of a suspended body were collected, the time of
oscillation would be the same as it is in the actual form
and state of the body.
{Center of percussion}, that point in a body moving about a
fixed axis at which it may strike an obstacle without
communicating a shock to the axis.
{Center of pressure} (Hydros.), that point in a surface
pressed by a fluid, at which, if a force equal to the
whole pressure and in the same line be applied in a
contrary direction, it will balance or counteract the
whole pressure of the fluid.
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