dead soldier

plural dead soldiers

1. idiomaticslangAn empty container, usually a bottle or can which contained an alcoholic beverage.

   Another Dead Soldier! (Lays the bottle gently on its side.)

   1968, William Handley, Flesh and Blood, page 15

   3 more examples

   We knocked another couple back / The dead soldiers lined up on the table

   1999, Elliott Smith, “Baby Britain”, in XO

   When my mother drinks beer, she peeks in the bottle to make sure it's a dead soldier.

   2000, Andrei Codrescu, Laura Rosenthal, Thus Spake the Corpse: An Exquisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998, page 344

   By the time the pint was a dead soldier, Decker had the man's life story.

   2002, Val Davis, Thread of the Spider, page 117