dead-set

Noun

dead set (plural dead sets)

1. The rigid pose a hunting dog assumes when pointing out game to a hunter.
   • The judge at the dog show took points off the Irish setter's dead set because its right ear twitched a few times.
2. A fixed or stationary condition arising from obstacle or hindrance; a deadlock.
   • to be at a dead set
3. (broadly, figuratively) A determined effort.
   • I might not graduate first in my class, but I'll make a dead set at it.
4. A pointed and persistent attack on a person.
   • The result was that everyone made a dead set on Collins. It was the same in conversation. When he put his head in everyone turned on him. He was roared down unmercifully, with the inevitable result that he lost his temper.2018, Frank O'Connor, The Big Fellow: Michael Collins and the Irish Revolution

See all 6 meanings of dead set