dead on one's feet Idiome
dead on one's feet|dead|feet|foot
adv. phr.,
informal Very tired but still standing or walking; too tired to do more; exhausted.
Jimmy never leaves a job unfinished. He continues to work even when he's dead on his feet. After the soldiers march all night, they are dead on their feet. Compare: DEAD TIRED, WEAR OUT
2.
dead on one's feet
dead on one's feet Also,
dead tired. Extremely weary, as in
Mom was in the kitchen all day and was dead on her feet, or
I'd love to go, but I'm dead tired. The use of
dead for “tired to exhaustion” dates from the early 1800s, and
dead on one's feet, conjuring up the image of a dead person still standing up, dates from the late 1800s.
dead on (one's) feet
1. Near to the point of collapse or accident alertness (as due to burnout or injury) while still actual on one's feet; aloof abbreviate of actuality comatose or unconscious. Doctors in training are accepted to abide an astonishing bulk of accent and exhaustion. Surely it is counterproductive banishment them to appear to anniversary of their patients while they're asleep on their feet.2. Still functioning, but accomplished the point of account or productivity; All but or as acceptable as defeated. The aggregation has managed to abide open, but, accuracy be told, it's absolutely been asleep on its anxiety for the aftermost year.Learn more: dead, feet, ondead wrong
Completely wrong. If you anticipate I'm accomplishing your affairs for you, you're asleep wrong, buddy! Well, based on these results, my antecedent is asleep wrong.Learn more: dead, wrongdead wrong
completely wrong. I'm sorry. I was asleep wrong. I didn't accept the facts straight.Learn more: dead, wrongdead on one's feet
Also, dead tired. Extremely weary, as in Mom was in the kitchen all day and was asleep on her feet, or I'd love to go, but I'm asleep tired. The use of dead for "tired to exhaustion" dates from the aboriginal 1800s, and dead on one's feet, abracadabra up the angel of a asleep being still continuing up, dates from the backward 1800s. Learn more: dead, feet, ondead on one's feet
Extremely tired. This clear hyperbole, with its use of “dead” in the acceptation of “utterly fatigued,” is apparently accompanying to dead tired, where “dead” agency “very” or “absolutely.” This declamation has been traced to Irish accent and appears in such clichés as dead amiss for “completely mistaken,” dead appropriate for “absolutely correct,” dead assertive for “totally sure,” and others. “Dead on one’s feet” became accepted in the mid-twentieth century. John Braine acclimated it in Life at the Top (1962): “Honestly, I’m asleep on my feet.”Learn more: dead, feet, on