dead end

English

Alternative forms

• dead-end, deadend

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

dead end (plural dead ends)

1. (idiomatic) A street or path or tunnel that goes nowhere or is blocked on one end.

   That road comes to a dead end at the lake.

2. (mining) The inner end of a drift or tunnel.
   • 1912 Queensland Annual Report of the Under Secretary for Mines for 1911. Brisbane, Australia. p.167

     The ventilation of dead ends — always a serious problem — has in some mines been an absolute necessity. At the Oriental Consols Gold Mine a crosscut at a depth of 2,600 ft. has been continued to over 1,400 ft. from the shaft, and at the No. 2 South Great Eastern Gold Mine crosscutting and driving has been carried on at depths of 1,750 ft. and 2,000 ft. In order to ventilate these dead ends blowers have been used to force air into the faces through lines of pipes.

3. A position that offers no hope of change or progress.

   Her father suggested that she decline the job because it was a dead end.

4. A split end in the hair.
   • 1890, The Young Lady's Private Counselor, page 208:

     Cut the ends of the hair once a month certain — no matter if you do cut but just the tips of a fourth of an inch, cut it. Cut off the dead ends every month as regularly as the new moon comes round.

Synonyms

• cul-de-sac
• blind alley
• impasse

Derived terms

• genetic dead end

Translations

See also

• no outlet
• no through road

Anagrams

• dedenda