dead weight

plural dead weights · alternative deadweight

1. countableuncountableUnremitting heavy weight that does not move.

   His dead weight, as he abruptly collapses, pulls his lapels from her hands, reminding her to step back, off-balancing whoever is behind her, […]

   2003, William Gibson, Pattern Recognition (Bigend cycle; book 1), New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 154

2. countableuncountablenauticalThe largest weight of cargo a ship is able to carry; i.e., the weight of a ship when fully loaded minus its weight when empty.
3. countableuncountablebusinessA dead load.
4. countablefigurativelyuncountableThat which is useless or excess; that which slows something down.

   She wants to shed the dead weight of so many stacks of old clutter.

   5 more examples

   It was Ethel Churchill, dressed as a bride, and on her wedding morning, that Norbourne had seen. She had sought the summer-house for a few moments of quiet and solitude. There was a dead weight on her spirits, which she rather sought to indulge than to shake off.

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Unavailing Regret”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 105

   For ten minutes he waited there, jabbed at by his nerves, with every minute mounting up a dead weight of suspense.

   1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 219

   They have the brains to rob a bank, but I guess only the rest of the gray matter is nothing but dead weight.

   2015, Neville Ramdeholl, The Man Who Woke Up Dead

   Nobody could ever be bothered to imagine the Sand Snakes beyond personalized weaponry and fake-aggressive quips, none of which were very convincing, and now they don’t even register as dead weight.

   2017 July 23, Brandon Nowalk, “The great game begins with a bang on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club

   “Contrasted with that, the flat is a tick against my name – it makes him think I’m a safe bet, that I’m not going to be dead weight.”

   2023 July 22, Barbara Speed, quoting Rosie (31), “‘We could soon see a Jane Austen-style marriage market’: how the housing crisis is turning modern dating on its head”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

5. countableuncountablerail transportThe total (unpowered) weight of a train to be propelled (or hauled) by the locomotive; another locomotive being hauled dead as part of the train is a dead weight.

   Having dropped the coach, the trio returned with the Class 47 leading and the other two locomotives as dead weight.

   2023 November 29, “Network News: Test runs for WCR fleet returnees”, in RAIL, number 997, page 24

alternative deadweight

1. With just enough weight for a ball to drop into a pocket, or come to rest in a precisely determined position.

   He rolled the red in dead weight, and now he's nicely on the blue.

   3 more examples

   I had no escape other than trying to roll off a side cushion, just ahead of the middle pocket, and lay on a red, dead weight, about a foot from the pocket in open play.

   2015, Steve Davis, Interesting: My Autobiography, →ISBN

   I potted a really difficult cut red into the middle pocket, dropping it in dead weight and finishing on the pink for a 59 break that pretty much got me there.

   2017, Hector Nunns, The Crucible's Greatest Matches: Forty Years of Snooker's World Championship, →ISBN

   From behind the Brown, aim to drop in dead-weight into the back of the pack.

   2018, David Horrix, Complete Book of Snooker Shots, →ISBN