Chapter De Trop to Deal of D by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Dead Weight The weight of something without life; a burden that does nothing towards easing its own weight; a person who encumbers us and renders no assistance. (See Dead Lift.)

Dead Wind (A). A wind directly opposed to a ship's course; a wind dead ahead.

Dead Wood in shipbuilding. Blocks of timber laid on the ship's keel. This is no part of the ship, but it serves to make the keel more rigid.

Dead Works in theology. Such works as do not earn salvation, or even assist in obtaining it. For such a purpose their value is nil. (Heb. ix. 14.)

Deaf
   Deaf as an adder. (See below, Deaf adder.)
   Deaf as a post. Quite deaf; or so inattentive as not to hear what is said. One might as well speak to a gate-post or log of wood.
   Deaf as a white cat. It is said that white cats are deaf and stupid.
   None so deaf as those who won't hear. The French have the same locution: "Il n'y a de pire sourd que celui qui ne veut pas entendre."

Deaf Adder "The deaf adder stoppeth her ears, and will not hearken to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely" (Psalm lviii. 4, 5). Captain Bruce says, "If a viper enters the house, the charmer is sent for, who entices the serpent, and puts it into a bag. I have seen poisonous vipers twist round the bodies of these psylli in all directions, without having their fangs extracted." According to tradition, the asp stops its ears when the charmer utters his incantation, by applying one ear to the ground and twisting its tail into the other. In the United States the copperhead is so called.

Deal A portion. "A tenth deal of flour." (Exodus xxix. 40.) (German, theil; Anglo-Saxon, dael verb, daelan, to share; Irish, dail; English, dole.)
   To deal the cards is to give each his dole or portion.