Meanings
- datednot comparablesimileUnquestionably dead.
[…] if a man, on coming up to his old friend’s cottage, finds the owner staring him in the face over a stile, all the while as dead as Hector,—still the answer is,—“Why, to be sure, all this is rather absurd; but then, Sir, consider the power.”
1823 July, “Scottish Novels of the Second Class”, in The Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany, volume 13, Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Company, page 4Synonyms: dead as a doornail, asleep, at rest, blessed, cadaverous, clay-cold, deceased, breathless
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Referencing the story of Hector, a Trojan hero in Greek mythology and a character in Homer's Iliad, who leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, and is ultimately killed in single combat by Achilles, who later drags his dead body around the city of Troy behind his chariot.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
dead as Hector. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dead%20as%20Hector
“dead as Hector.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dead%20as%20Hector. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dead as Hector,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dead%20as%20Hector.
Source: dead as Hector on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.