dead 'un
dead 'un noun: a horse that will not run or will not try in a race, and against which money may be safely wagered.
Noun
dead 'un (plural dead 'uns)
- A horse that will not run or will not try in a race, and against which money may be safely wagered.
- If this is the way lotteries are to be conducted, the unfortunate backers are worse off than when they confide themselves to the tender mercies of the "howling dervishes" of the "ring at home," who, if they do occasionally serve up a "dead 'un" rather "warm", are yet amenable to racing law, which...1872, The Oriental Sporting Magazine, volume 4, page 141
- Jerry was most carefully watched and guarded, nobbling seemed impossible, yet still the bookies kept laying against the horse as if he were a "dead 'un."1898, Thormanby, Kings of the Turf, page 33
- Synonyms:
- stiff 'un
Synonyms of dead 'un
Forms of dead 'un
| plural | dead 'uns |
|---|
Questions about dead 'un
- What does dead 'un mean?
- Dead 'un means a horse that will not run or will not try in a race, and against which money may be safely wagered.
- What part of speech is dead 'un?
- Dead 'un is a noun.
- What is the plural of dead 'un?
- The plural of dead 'un is dead 'uns.
Words near dead 'un in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dead 'un (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “dead 'un.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dead_%27un. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.