Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In shipbuilding, a body of timber built up on top of the keel at either end, to afford a firm fastening for the cant timbers.
- noun A buffer-block.
- noun In ten-pins and pin-pool, the pins which have been knocked down.
- noun Useless material.
- noun In card-playing, the discards from the various players; cards which cannot be used again for any purpose during the hand then being played.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Notre Dame University is now just more dead-wood to be cut away from the Church, and probably has been for a long time.
Fr. Reese's flawed arguments for Pres. Obama at Notre Dame 2009
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Whatever the private feelings expressed inside the Great Wishford cottages by tiny dead-wood fires in midwinter, things then seem to have settled down until 1807, when the Earl of Pembroke bought the Manor of Wishford and the forest, and promptly brought an Act of Enclosure upon it to Parliament in 1809.
Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009
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Right-sizing, communication plans, austerity-distilled policies, dead-wood clearance et al. A chunk of all these have no more than a symbolic effect on real-time cost savings.
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Whatever the private feelings expressed inside the Great Wishford cottages by tiny dead-wood fires in midwinter, things then seem to have settled down until 1807, when the Earl of Pembroke bought the Manor of Wishford and the forest, and promptly brought an Act of Enclosure upon it to Parliament in 1809.
Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009
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They must start getting rid of the dead-wood at the top.
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You've got thousands of dead-wood lifers hanging around doing nothing but you don't have the stomach to purge them.
Wet work 2007
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I should have known it would be a topic of interest when I found my husband reading the essay in my dead-wood copy of the Journal.
Medpundit 2004
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I do recall as a former public worker, under protection of the Civil Service, that it did make it almost impossible to get rid of “dead-wood” employees.
Firedoglake » America’s Public Employees: Live Like Slaves, Die Like Dogs 2006
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I should have known it would be a topic of interest when I found my husband reading the essay in my dead-wood copy of the Journal.
Archive 2004-08-01 2004
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The Jerle Shannara shuddered and lurched as the parse tubes emitted fresh discharges of converted light, then shot forward across the enemy's stern, raking her decking and snapping off pieces of railing like dead-wood.
Morgawr Brooks, Terry 2002
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