stone dead
Utterly dead.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“The old battery is stone dead.”
“I tried to start the car this morning, but the engine was stone dead.”
“After the sudden power failure, the entire computer system was left stone dead, forcing the staff to rely on paper records.”
From Middle English stone-dede, stan-ded, and standed, equivalent to the compound of stone and dead. It follows the established Germanic pattern of using a noun for intensification, appearing alongside related formations such as stone-cold and stone-hard.
- 01
beat a dead horse
To persist or continue far beyond any purpose, interest or reason.
- 02
brown bread
[Cockney slang]dead
- 03
carved in stone
Unchangeable.
- 04
cast the first stone
To act self-righteously in accusing another person, believing oneself to be blameless.
- 05
come back from the dead
To experience a resurgence after one's productive years are assumed to have ended.
- 06
dead 'n' buried
Contraction of dead and buried.
- 07
dead air
An unintended interruption in a broadcast during which nothing is transmitted: a silent period on radio or a silent period with no picture on television.
- 08
dead and buried
Of an issue, moot, passed, irrelevant, forgotten.
Last updated August 10, 2026