Английский Этимологический словарь - dead

- O.E. dead, from P.Gmc. *dauthaz, from PIE *dheu-. Used from 16c. in adj. sense of "utter, absolute, quite." Dead heat is from 1796; deadbeat "worthless sponging idler" is recorded from 1877 in Amer.Eng. slang; earlier used colloquially to mean "completely beat" (1821). Dead reckoning may be from nautical abbreviation ded. ("deduced") in log book. Dead man's hand in poker, pair of aces and pair of eights, supposedly what Wild Bill Hickock held when Jack McCall shot him in 1876. Dead soldier "emptied liquor bottle" is military slang from 1913. Deadpan is 1930s; dead on is 1889, from marksmanship; dead drunk first attested 1602; dead duck is from 1844. Dead letter is from 1703; Deadhead is 1970s in sense of "devotee of the band the Grateful Dead," earlier "train or truck carrying no passengers or freight" (1911) and "non-paying spectator" (1841). Dead Sea is L. Mare Mortum, Gk. he nekra thalassa (Aristotle); its water is 26 percent salt (as opposed to 3 or 4 percent in most oceans) and supports practically no life.