Word.ws English Dictionary

dead as Hector

dead as Hector adjective: unquestionably dead.

Adjective

dead as Hector (not comparable)

  1. (dated, simile) Unquestionably dead.
    • […] if a man, on coming up to his old friend’s cottage, finds the owner staring him in the face over a stile, all the while as dead as Hector,—still the answer is,—“Why, to be sure, all this is rather absurd; but then, Sir, consider the power.”1823 July, “Scottish Novels of the Second Class”, in The Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany, volume 13, Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Company, page 4

Synonyms of dead as Hector

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Origin of dead as Hector

Referencing the story of Hector, a Trojan hero in Greek mythology and a character in Homer's Iliad, who leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, and is ultimately killed in single combat by Achilles, who later drags his dead body around the city of Troy behind his chariot.

Questions about dead as Hector

What does dead as Hector mean?
Dead as Hector means unquestionably dead.
What part of speech is dead as Hector?
Dead as Hector is an adjective.

Words near dead as Hector in the dictionary

  1. dead as a doornail
  2. dead as a herring
  3. dead as a kipper
  4. dead as a mackerel
  5. dead as ditch-water
  6. dead as Hector
  7. dead asleep
  8. dead axle
  9. dead axles
  10. dead ball
  11. dead balls

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dead as Hector (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.

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