| dead-letter office |
a postal department to which undeliverable or unreturnable letters and parcels are sent to be opened, delivered if an address can be found, or destroyed. |
| deadlight |
a strong shutter or cover fastened over the interior of a ship's porthole or cabin window in stormy weather. [3 definitions] |
| deadline |
a date or time by which something must be done. [2 definitions] |
| dead load |
the fixed or permanent weight of a structure that exerts a uniform, constant pressure on the supports. (Cf. live load.) |
| deadlock |
a standstill or stoppage of progress on either side between equally strong or determined adversaries. [2 definitions] |
| deadly |
capable of causing death. [6 definitions] |
| deadly nightshade |
see belladonna. |
| deadly sins |
the seven sins believed to cause spiritual death: pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. |
| dead march |
a slow, solemn piece of music, esp. a march played during a funeral procession. |
| deadpan |
showing no emotion; blank and expressionless. [3 definitions] |
| dead reckoning |
the calculation of the position of a ship or airplane on the basis of speed, distance, wind speed, and currents, rather than on more accurate astronomical observations. |
| Dead Sea |
a large salt lake between Israel and Jordan, and the lowest recorded land elevation on earth, at about 1300 feet below sea level. |
| Dead Sea Scrolls |
scrolls dating from about 100 B.C. to 70 A.D. that were found in caves above the Dead Sea, and that contain scriptural and other writings of a Jewish religious community. |
| dead set against |
utterly opposed to; strongly against. |
| dead weight |
the unrelieved weight of any inert mass, esp. a human or animal body. [3 definitions] |
| deadwood |
on a tree, branches or sections of trunk that are dead. [2 definitions] |
| deaf |
partly or totally lacking the sense of hearing. [2 definitions] |
| deafen |
to cause to become deaf. [2 definitions] |
| deaf-mute |
one who can neither hear nor speak. [2 definitions] |
| deal1 |
to be concerned or to handle (usu. fol. by with or in). [13 definitions] |
| deal2 |
fir or pine wood, or planks made of such wood. |