dead-leg

Noun

dead leg (plural dead legs)

1. A blow to the upper thigh, crushing the muscle against the bone and crushing the nerve cluster next to the quadriceps. Also, the resulting injury.
   • I kneed you, I said, and I gave him a dead leg.1994, Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke, ha-ha-ha, page 225
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see dead, leg.

Noun

deadleg (plural deadlegs)

1. A lazy or weak person.
   • I was a bit of a deadleg in them days. You know, footloose and inclined to be rather flirtatious with the ladies.1961, Shelagh Delaney, The Lion in Love: A Play, page 83
2. An isolated section of pipeline that does not usually carry a flow.
   • There should be minimum deadleg between the valve and main process unit and, if possible, means for cleaning the deadleg.1996, K. Carr-Brion, J. R. P. Clarke, Sampling Systems for Process Analysers, →ISBN, page 182
3. A movement in which the hips and knees are kept straight and stiff and the ankle is flexed.
   • Deadleg drills can also be performed by having one leg serve as the dealeg (hips and knees stiff, ankles dorsiflexed, active ground contact with the foot and the heel adhering o the credit card rule) and having the opposite leg perform other drills, such as A-skips, B-skips or straight-leg skips.2017, Clive Brewer, Athletic Movement Skills: Training for Sports Performance, →ISBN, page 202
4. A vehicle that is traveling on a leg of its route in which it does not carry any cargo.
   • Companies can transport on a nationwide basis but usually only carry their products out and have a deadleg on the return trip, e.g., the sugar distributors.1984, Gavin Grant Maasdorp, Transport Policies and Economic Development in Southern Africa

See all 5 meanings of deadleg