Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Dead \Dead\, a.
   1. (Elec.) Carrying no current, or producing no useful
      effect; -- said of a conductor in a dynamo or motor, also
      of a telegraph wire which has no instrument attached and,
      therefore, is not in use.

   2. Out of play; regarded as out of the game; -- said of a
      ball, a piece, or a player under certain conditions in
      cricket, baseball, checkers, and some other games.

            [In golf], a ball is said to lie dead when it lies
            so near the hole that the player is certain to hole
            it in the next stroke.                --Encyc. of
                                                  Sport.

Dead \Dead\ (d[e^]d), a. [OE. ded, dead, deed, AS. de['a]d; akin
   to OS. d[=o]d, D. dood, G. todt, tot, Icel. dau[eth]r, Sw. &
   Dan. d["o]d, Goth. daubs; prop. p. p. of an old verb meaning
   to die. See {Die}, and cf. {Death}.]
   1. Deprived of life; -- opposed to {alive} and {living};
      reduced to that state of a being in which the organs of
      motion and life have irrevocably ceased to perform their
      functions; as, a dead tree; a dead man. ``The queen, my
      lord, is dead.'' --Shak.

            The crew, all except himself, were dead of hunger.
                                                  --Arbuthnot.

            Seek him with candle, bring him dead or living.
                                                  --Shak.

   2. Destitute of life; inanimate; as, dead matter.

   3. Resembling death in appearance or quality; without show of
      life; deathlike; as, a dead sleep.

   4. Still as death; motionless; inactive; useless; as, dead
      calm; a dead load or weight.

   5. So constructed as not to transmit sound; soundless; as, a
      dead floor.

   6. Unproductive; bringing no gain; unprofitable; as, dead
      capital; dead stock in trade.

   7. Lacking spirit; dull; lusterless; cheerless; as, dead eye;
      dead fire; dead color, etc.

   8. Monotonous or unvaried; as, a dead level or pain; a dead
      wall. ``The ground is a dead flat.'' --C. Reade.

   9. Sure as death; unerring; fixed; complete; as, a dead shot;
      a dead certainty.

            I had them a dead bargain.            --Goldsmith.

   10. Bringing death; deadly. --Shak.

   11. Wanting in religious spirit and vitality; as, dead faith;
       dead works. ``Dead in trespasses.'' --Eph. ii. 1.

   12. (Paint.)
       (a) Flat; without gloss; -- said of painting which has
           been applied purposely to have this effect.
       (b) Not brilliant; not rich; thus, brown is a dead color,
           as compared with crimson.

   13. (Law) Cut off from the rights of a citizen; deprived of
       the power of enjoying the rights of property; as, one
       banished or becoming a monk is civilly dead.

   14. (Mach.) Not imparting motion or power; as, the dead
       spindle of a lathe, etc. See {Spindle}.

   {Dead ahead} (Naut.), directly ahead; -- said of a ship or
      any object, esp. of the wind when blowing from that point
      toward which a vessel would go.

   {Dead angle} (Mil.), an angle or space which can not be seen
      or defended from behind the parapet.

   {Dead block}, either of two wooden or iron blocks intended to
      serve instead of buffers at the end of a freight car.

   {Dead calm} (Naut.), no wind at all.

   {Dead center}, or {Dead point} (Mach.), either of two points
      in the orbit of a crank, at which the crank and connecting
      rod lie a straight line. It corresponds to the end of a
      stroke; as, A and B are dead centers of the crank
      mechanism in which the crank C drives, or is driven by,
      the lever L.

   {Dead color} (Paint.), a color which has no gloss upon it.

   {Dead coloring} (Oil paint.), the layer of colors, the
      preparation for what is to follow. In modern painting this
      is usually in monochrome.

   {Dead door} (Shipbuilding), a storm shutter fitted to the
      outside of the quarter-gallery door.

   {Dead flat} (Naut.), the widest or midship frame.

   {Dead freight} (Mar. Law), a sum of money paid by a person
      who charters a whole vessel but fails to make out a full
      cargo. The payment is made for the unoccupied capacity.
      --Abbott.

   {Dead ground} (Mining), the portion of a vein in which there
      is no ore.

   {Dead hand}, a hand that can not alienate, as of a person
      civilly dead. ``Serfs held in dead hand.'' --Morley. See
      {Mortmain}.

   {Dead head} (Naut.), a rough block of wood used as an anchor
      buoy.

   {Dead heat}, a heat or course between two or more race
      horses, boats, etc., in which they come out exactly equal,
      so that neither wins.

   {Dead horse}, an expression applied to a debt for wages paid
      in advance. [Law]

   {Dead language}, a language which is no longer spoken or in
      common use by a people, and is known only in writings, as
      the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

Dead \Dead\, n.
   1. The most quiet or deathlike time; the period of
      profoundest repose, inertness, or gloom; as, the dead of
      winter.

            When the drum beat at dead of night.  --Campbell.

   2. One who is dead; -- commonly used collectively.

            And Abraham stood up from before his dead. --Gen.
                                                  xxiii. 3.

Dead \Dead\, v. t.
   To make dead; to deaden; to deprive of life, force, or vigor.
   [Obs.]

         Heaven's stern decree, With many an ill, hath numbed
         and deaded me.                           --Chapman.

Dead \Dead\, adv.
   To a degree resembling death; to the last degree; completely;
   wholly. [Colloq.]

         I was tired of reading, and dead sleepy. --Dickens.

   {Dead drunk}, so drunk as to be unconscious.

Dead \Dead\, v. i.
   To die; to lose life or force. [Obs.]

         So iron, as soon as it is out of the fire, deadeth
         straightway.                             --Bacon.

Source : WordNet®

dead
     adj 1: no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have
            life; "the nerve is dead"; "a dead pallor"; "he was
            marked as a dead man by the assassin" [ant: {alive(p)}]
     2: not showing characteristics of life especially the capacity
        to sustain life; no longer exerting force or having energy
        or heat; "Mars is a dead planet"; "a dead battery"; "dead
        soil"; "dead coals"; "the fire is dead" [ant: {live}]
     3: very tired; "was all in at the end of the day"; "so beat I
        could flop down and go to sleep anywhere"; "bushed after
        all that exercise"; "I'm dead after that long trip" [syn:
        {all in(p)}, {beat(p)}, {bushed(p)}, {dead(p)}]
     4: unerringly accurate; "a dead shot"; "took dead aim"
     5: physically inactive; "Crater Lake is in the crater of a dead
        volcano of the Cascade Range"
     6: total; "dead silence"; "utter seriousness" [syn: {dead(a)},
        {utter(a)}]
     7: not endowed with life; "the inorganic world is inanimate";
        "inanimate objects"; "dead stones" [syn: {inanimate}, {nonliving}]
        [ant: {animate}]
     8: (followed by `to') not showing human feeling or sensitivity;
        unresponsive; "passersby were dead to our plea for help";
        "numb to the cries for mercy" [syn: {dead(p)}, {numb(p)}]
     9: devoid of physical sensation; numb; "his gums were dead from
        the novocain"; "she felt no discomfort as the dentist
        drilled her deadened tooth"; "a public desensitized by
        continuous television coverage of atrocities" [syn: {deadened}]
     10: lacking acoustic resonance; "dead sounds characteristic of
         some compact discs"; "the dead wall surfaces of a
         recording studio"
     11: not yielding a return; "dead capital"; "idle funds" [syn: {idle}]
     12: not circulating or flowing; "dead air"; "dead water";
         "stagnant water" [syn: {dead(a)}, {stagnant}]
     13: out of use or operation because of a fault or breakdown; "a
         dead telephone line"; "the motor is dead"
     14: not surviving in active use; "Latin is a dead language"
     15: lacking resilience or bounce; "a dead tennis ball"
     16: no longer in force or use; inactive; "a defunct (or dead)
         law"; "a defunct organization" [syn: {defunct}]
     17: no longer having force or relevance; "a dead issue"
     18: sudden and complete; "came to a dead stop" [syn: {dead(a)}]
     19: drained of electric charge; discharged; "a dead battery";
         "left the lights on and came back to find the battery
         drained" [syn: {drained}]
     20: lacking animation or excitement or activity; "the party
         being dead we left early"; "it was a lifeless party until
         she arrived" [syn: {lifeless}]
     21: devoid of activity; "this is a dead town; nothing ever
         happens here"

dead
     n 1: people who are no longer living; "they buried the dead"
          [ant: {living}]
     2: a time when coldness (or some other quality associated with
        death) is intense; "the dead of winter"

dead
     adv 1: quickly and without warning; "he stopped suddenly" [syn: {abruptly},
             {suddenly}, {short}]
     2: completely and without qualification; used informally as
        intensifiers; "an absolutely magnificent painting"; "a
        perfectly idiotic idea"; "you're perfectly right";
        "utterly miserable"; "you can be dead sure of my
        innocence"; "was dead tired"; "dead right" [syn: {absolutely},
         {perfectly}, {utterly}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

dead
     
        1. Non-functional; {down}; {crash}ed.  Especially used of
        {hardware}.
     
        2. At {XEROX PARC}, software that is working but not
        undergoing continued development and support.
     
        [{Jargon File}]