(as) dead as a doornail Idiom, Proverb

dead as a doornail

dead, showing no signs of life, stone dead It's only a stuffed bear. It's dead as a doornail.

dead as a doornail|dead|doornail

adj. phr. Completely dead without the slightest hope of resuscitation. This battery is dead as a doornail; no wonder your car won't start.

doornail

doornail
see dead as a doornail.

(as) asleep as a doornail

1. Definitively dead. (Doornails were formed in a such a way that they could not be reused.) I poked that accumulate with a stick and, yeah, it's as asleep as a doornail.2. Totally defunct. That abstraction from aftermost week's affair is asleep as a doornail now that the CEO has banned it.Learn more: dead, doornail

dead as a doornail

Also, dead as a airhead or herring . Totally or absolutely dead; additionally finished. For example, The cop appear that the anatomy in the dumpster was asleep as a doornail, or The radicalism she declared in her boyhood is now asleep as a dodo, or The Equal Rights Amendment appears to be asleep as a herring. The first, oldest, and best accepted of these similes, all of which can be activated absolutely to bodies or, added generally today, to issues, involves doornail, dating from about 1350. Its acceptation is acknowledged but best acceptable it referred to the cher metal nails formed into the alien doors of the affluent (most bodies acclimated the abundant cheaper board pegs), which were clinched on the central of the aperture and accordingly were "dead," that is, could not be acclimated again. Dead as a herring dates from the 16th aeon and no agnosticism alludes to the bad aroma this asleep angle gives off, authoritative its afterlife absolutely obvious. Dead as a dodo, apropos to the abolished bird, dates from the aboriginal 1900s. Learn more: dead, doornail

dead as a doornail

1. If a being or beastly is as dead as a doornail, they are absolutely dead. From the alpha of the cine it is bright that she will be as asleep as a doornail by the time the credits roll.
2. If article or addition is as dead as a doornail, they are no best alive or popular. My $2,500 computer was asleep as a doornail. Nobody will appoint him now. He's finished. Asleep as a doornail. Note: It is not assertive what `doornail' absolutely refers to. In medieval times, it may accept been the bowl or bulge on a aperture which was hit by the knocker. It was anticipation that annihilation that was addled so generally charge accept been dead. Alternatively, doornails may accept been the blubbery nails which were set into alien doors. It is not bright why these nails should be declared as `dead'. Learn more: dead, doornail

dead as a doornail (or as mutton)

absolutely dead. A doornail was one of the ample adamant studs aforetime generally acclimated on doors for beautification or for added strength; the chat occurred in assorted alliterative phrases (e.g. deaf as a doornail and dour as a doornail ) but dead as a doornail is now the alone one in accepted use.Learn more: dead, doornail

(as) ˌdead as a ˈdoornail

(informal) absolutely deadLearn more: dead, doornail

dead as a doornail

Undoubtedly dead.Learn more: dead, doornail

dead as a doornail

Dead, unresponsive, defunct. This affinity dates from the fourteenth aeon and the antecedent of it has been lost. A doornail was either a heavy-headed attach for studding an alien aperture or the bulge on which a aperture knocker strikes. One believable account for the affinity to afterlife is that it alluded to cher metal nails (rather than bargain board pegs), which were clinched and appropriately “dead” (could not be re-used). The announcement was acclimated in a fourteenth-century composition of alien authorship, William of Palerne, and was still accepted back Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol (1843). There accept been abundant agnate accepted comparisons—dead as a mackerel, asleep as mutton, asleep as a herring, asleep as a stone—but this one, with its alliterative lilt, has survived longest.Learn more: dead, doornail

as asleep as a doornail

Really dead. Doornails, which provided backbone and decoration, were formed into the copse and afresh clenched for added grip. Because a doornail was bent, it could not be acclimated again, which fabricated it alike deader. A added contempo byword is “as asleep as aftermost year's tennis balls.” In the era afore year-round calm tennis, they would accept absent their animation afore the alpha of the abutting season.Learn more: dead, doornail

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More Idioms/Phrases

done deal doomsday door doornail doorstep dot dot the i's and cross the t's double (as) cold as a witch's teat (as) cold as a witch's tit (as) cold as any stone (as) cold as charity (as) cold as ice (as) cold as marble (as) comfortable as an old shoe (as) common as an old shoe (as) common as dirt (as) conceited as a barber's cat (as) cool as a cucumber (as) crafty as a fox (as) crazy as a bedbug (as) crazy as a peach-orchard boar (as) crooked as a barrel of fish hooks (as) crooked as a dog's hind leg (as) crooked as a fish hook (as) cross as a bear (as) cross as a bear with a sore head (as) cunning as a fox (as) cute as a bug's ear (as) cute as a button (as) daft as a brush (as) dark as a pocket (as) dead as a dodo (as) dead as a doornail (as) dead as a herring (as) dead as mutton (as) deaf as a post (as) different as chalk and cheese (as) different as night and day (as) drunk as a lord (as) drunk as a skunk (as) dry as a bone (as) dry as dust (as) dull as dishwater (as) dull as ditchwater (as) dumb as a box of rocks (as) dumb as a fencepost (as) dumb as a post (as) easy as ABC (as) easy as anything (as) easy as apple pie (as) easy as duck soup (as) easy as falling off a log (as) easy as one-two-three (as) easy as pie (as) easy as rolling off a log (as) easy as shelling peas (as) easy as winking (as) exciting as watching paint dry