deadlight (dedlit)

1. Naut., a strong wooden or iron shutter fastened over a cabin window or port-hole in rough weather to prevent water from entering.-2. A luminous appearance sometimes observed over putrescent animal bodies. [Scotch.] At length it was suggested to the old man that there were always dead lights hovering over a corpse by night, if the body was left exposed to the air. Blackwood's Mag . , March, 1823, p. 318. 1470 Thy a ailant is quick, skilful, and deadly . Shak., T. N., iii. 4. Deadlier emphasis of curse. Scott , L. of the L., iii. 4. In England every preparation was made for a deadly struggle. Lecky , Eng. in 18th Cent., iii. 4. Adapted for producing death or great bodily injury: as, a deadly weapon; a deadly drug. He drew his deadly sword. Duel of Wharton and Stuart (Child's Ballads, VIII. 263). Shot from the deadly level of a gun. Shak., R. and J., iii. 3. [Rare.] 5. Dead. And great lords bear you clothed with funeral things, And your crown girded over deadly brows. Swinburne , Chaste lard, iii. 1. 6. Very great; exce ive. [Colloq.] To the privy seale, where I signed a deadly number of pardons, which do trouble me to get nothing by. Pepys , Diary, I. 129. IMG:content-2102.png:[blocks in formation] Ffor thowgh that I haue hated yow neuer dedly , ye that I may haue no will to do yow noon euell. Christ, after expiration, was in the state or condition of the dead, in deadly hood. Bp. Pearson , Expos. of Creed, v. dead-line (ded'lin), n. A line drawn around the inside or outside of a military prison, which no prisoner can cro without incurring the penalty of being immediately shot down: used during the American civil war especially with reference to open-air inclosures or stockades for prisoners. Should he some day escape alive acro the dead - line of Winchesters, he will be hunted with bloodhounds. Contemporary Rev., LIII. 449.