Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DEAD, a. [ded; Sax. dead, probably contracted from deged; D. dood; G. todt; Sw. död; Dan. död. See Die.]

1. Deprived or destitute of life; that state of a being, animal or vegetable, in which the organs of motion and life have ceased to perform their functions, and have become incapable of performing them, or of being restored to a state of activity. The men are dead who sought thy life. – Ex. iv. It is sometimes followed by of before the cause of death; as, dead of hunger, or of a fever.
2. Having never had life, or having been deprived of vital action before birth; as, the child was born dead.
3. Without life; inanimate. All, all but truth, drops dead-born from the press. – Pope.
4. Without vegetable life; as, a dead tree.
5. Imitating death; deep or sound; as, a dead sleep.
6. Perfectly still; motionless as death; as, a dead calm; a dead weight.
7. Empty; vacant; not enlivened by variety; as, a dead void space, a dead plain. – Dryden. We say also, a dead level, for a perfectly level surface.
8. Unemployed; useless; unprofitable. A man's faculties may lie dead, or his goods remain dead on his hands. So dead capital or stock is that which produces no profit.
9. Dull; inactive; as, a dead sale of commodities.
10. Dull; gloomy; still; not enlivened; as, a dead winter; a dead season. – Addison.
11. Still; deep; obscure; as the dead darkness of the night.
12. Dull; not lively; not resembling life; as, the dead coloring of a piece; a dead eye.
13. Dull; heavy; as, a dead sound. – Boyle.
14. Dull; frigid; lifeless; cold; not animated; not affecting; used of prayer. – Addison.
15. Tasteless; vapid; spiritless; used of liquors.
16. Uninhabitated; as, dead walls. – Arbuthnot.
17. Dull; without natural force or efficacy; not lively or brisk; as, a dead fire.
18. In a state of spiritual death; void of grace; lying under the power of sin.
19. Impotent; unable to procreate. – Rom. iv.
20. Decayed in grace. Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. – Rev. iii.
21. Not proceeding from spiritual life; not producing good works; as, faith without works is dead. – James ii.
22. Proceeding from corrupt nature, not from spiritual life or a gracious principle; as, dead works. – Heb. ix. 14.
23. In 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. – Blackstone. Dead language, a language which is no longer spoken or in common use by a people, and known only in writings; as the Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Dead rising or rising line, the parts of a ship's floor or bottom throughout her length, where the floor timber is terminated on the lower futtock. – Mar. Dict.