Heading
Dead-Horse, subs. (common).—1. Work, the wages for which have been paid in advance; by implication, distasteful, or thankless labor. Fr., la bijouterie. To pull the dead horse = to work for wages already paid. [Seamen, on signing articles, sometimes get pay in advance, and they celebrate the term of the period thus paid for by dragging a canvas horse, stuffed with straw, round the deck and dropping him into the sea amidst cheers.] Fr., manger du salé (to eat salt pork.)
1651. Cartwright, Siedge. Ply. Now you'l wish I know, you ne'r might wear Foul linnen more, never be lowzy agen, Nor ly perdue with the fat sutler's wife In the provoking vertue of dead horse, Your dear delights, and rare camp pleasures.
1669. Nicker Nicked, in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), ii., 110. Sir Humphry Foster had lost the greatest part of his estate, and then (playing, as it is said, for a dead horse) did, by happy fortune, recover it again.
1824. T. Fielding, Proverbs, etc. (Familiar Phrases), p. 148, s.v.
1857. Notes and Queries, 2 S., iv., p. 192. A workman 'horses' it when he charges for more in his week's work than he has really done. Of course he has so much unprofitable work to get through in the ensuing week, which is called dead horse.
2. (West Indian).—A shooting star. Among Jamaican negroes the spirits of horses that have fallen over precipices are thought to re-appear in this form.
To flog the dead horse, verb. phr. (common).—To work to no purpose; to dissipate one's energy in vain; to make 'much ado about nothing.'
1872. Globe, 1 Aug. 'In the House,' For full twenty minutes by the clock the Premier . . . might be said to have rehearsed that particularly lively operation known as flogging a dead horse.
Dead-Letter, subs. (colloquial).—Anything
that has lost its force or
authority by lapse of time or other
causes.
1755. Fielding, Voyage to Lisbon, p. 145. And to enact laws without doing this, is to fill our statute-books, much too full already, still fuller with dead letter, of no use but to the printer of the Acts of Parliament.
1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xxi. The Metropolitan Buildings' Act is a dead letter in Tattyboys Rents, for nobody ever thinks of building.
1861. Chambers' Encyclopædia, s.v. Bunkum. Many laws, agitated for by popular factions, remain a dead letter, unless they happen to be enforced by clubs organized for the purpose.
Deadlights, subs. (nautical).—The
eyes. For synonyms, see
Glims.
Dead Lurk, subs. (thieves').—See
quot.
1851-61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. i., p. 403. The dead lurk, for instance, is the expressive slang phrase for the art of entering dwelling-houses during divine service.
Deadly, adv. (colloquial).—Very;
extremely; excessively. In Arbuthnot:
'So deadly cunning
a man.'
Deadly Lively, adv. phr. (common).—Jovial against the grain and to no purpose.
Deadly Nevergreen, subs. phr.
(old).—The gallows. Also known
as the leafless tree and the
tree that bears fruit all
the year round. For synonyms,
see Nubbing Cheat.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v.
Dead Man, subs. phr. (common).—1.
An empty bottle: said also
to bear Moll Thompson's mark
(i.e. M.T. = empty).
