Heading
4. (common).—An empty bottle. For synonyms, see Dead man.
1889. Bird o' Freedom, 7 Aug., p. 3. We submitted, and with her help were soon surrounded with a formidable array of dead 'uns.
5. (theatrical).—An unpaid super.
Dead Unit for [or against], adv.
phr. (colloquial).—Collective advocacy
of (or opposition to) a
subject, principle, or line of
action. Cf., to go the whole
hog.
1888. The Solid Muldoon (Ouray, Colorado). The Eastern Press is a dead unit against the passage of the Postal Telegraph Bill.
Dead-wood Earnest, adv. phr.
(American).—Quite earnest;
'dead on.' Cf., in dead
earnest.
1876. S. L. Clemens ('Mark Twain'), Tom Sawyer. No! oh, good licks, are you in real dead-wood earnest?
Dead Wrong 'Un.—See Wrong
'un.
Deady (modern American, Dead-Eye),
subs. (old).—Gin; a special
brand of full proof spirit, also
known as Stark-naked (q.v.).
[From Deady, a well-known gin-spinner.]
For synonyms, see
Drinks.
1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress, p. 35. As we'd been summon'd thus, to quaff our deady o'er some state affairs.
1834. Southey, The Doctor, inter-chapter xvi. Some of the whole-hoggery in the House of Commons he would designate by Deady, or Wet and Heavy; some by Weak Tea, others by Blue-Ruin.
Deal. There's a deal of glass
about, phr. (common).—Said of
men and things; used as a compliment
= showy, 'its the thing.'
To wet the deal, verb. phr. (common).—To ratify a bargain by drinking; to 'shake.'
1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 268. I shall be back again shortly, when we will wet the deal.
To do a deal, verb. phr. (common).—To conclude a bargain.
Deal-Suit, subs. (common).—A
coffin; especially one supplied by
the parish. [In allusion to the
wood of which cheap coffins are
made.] For synonyms, see Eternity
Box.
Dean, subs. (Winchester College).—A
small piece of wood bound
round a Bill-Brighter (q.v.);
that securing a fagot is called a
Bishop.
Deaner, subs. (thieves').—A shilling.
[Origin uncertain; possibly
related to Latin denarius. In
the 16th and 17th centuries,
denier = a coin—vide Nashe,
Shakspeare, Johnson, etc. Others
trace it to (a) the Cornish dinair;
(b) Yiddish dinoh, a coin; (c)
Gypsy deanee, a pound; (d) Lingua
Franca dinarly.] For synonyms,
see Blow.
1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 444. Shilling, Deaner, also twelver.
1864. Times, 12 October, p. 11, col. 6. One woman said where's the deaner?
1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., xl., 501. I had been down three or four days running, and could not buy anything to earn a deaner (shilling) out of.
Dearest Member.—The penis.
Death. To be death on, verb.
phr. (common).—Very fond of,
or thoroughly master of—a metaphor
of completeness; the same
