"dead to rights" meaning in English

See dead to rights in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adverb

Audio: en-au-dead to rights.ogg [Australia]
Etymology: US, 1854, originally New York City criminal slang, thence entered general use. dead (“completely, utterly”) + to rights (“properly”). Etymology templates: {{m|en|dead||completely, utterly}} dead (“completely, utterly”), {{m|en|to rights||properly}} to rights (“properly”) Head templates: {{en-adv|-|head=dead to rights}} dead to rights (not comparable)
  1. (US, idiomatic) With sufficient evidence to establish responsibility definitively. Tags: US, idiomatic, not-comparable Synonyms: bang to rights, red-handed Related terms: guilty as charged
    Sense id: en-dead_to_rights-en-adv-EqJnwWw6 Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header, English terms with collocations

Download JSON data for dead to rights meaning in English (2.0kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "dead",
        "3": "",
        "4": "completely, utterly"
      },
      "expansion": "dead (“completely, utterly”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "to rights",
        "3": "",
        "4": "properly"
      },
      "expansion": "to rights (“properly”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "US, 1854, originally New York City criminal slang, thence entered general use. dead (“completely, utterly”) + to rights (“properly”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "head": "dead to rights"
      },
      "expansion": "dead to rights (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with collocations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with collocations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Because of the video replay, the ref had him dead to rights on the penalty."
        },
        {
          "text": "have someone dead to rights on something",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "With sufficient evidence to establish responsibility definitively."
      ],
      "id": "en-dead_to_rights-en-adv-EqJnwWw6",
      "links": [
        [
          "evidence",
          "evidence"
        ],
        [
          "responsibility",
          "responsibility"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, idiomatic) With sufficient evidence to establish responsibility definitively."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "guilty as charged"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "bang to rights"
        },
        {
          "word": "red-handed"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "idiomatic",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-dead to rights.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6a/En-au-dead_to_rights.ogg/En-au-dead_to_rights.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/En-au-dead_to_rights.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "dead to rights"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "dead",
        "3": "",
        "4": "completely, utterly"
      },
      "expansion": "dead (“completely, utterly”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "to rights",
        "3": "",
        "4": "properly"
      },
      "expansion": "to rights (“properly”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "US, 1854, originally New York City criminal slang, thence entered general use. dead (“completely, utterly”) + to rights (“properly”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "head": "dead to rights"
      },
      "expansion": "dead to rights (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "guilty as charged"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English adverbs",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with collocations",
        "English uncomparable adverbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Because of the video replay, the ref had him dead to rights on the penalty."
        },
        {
          "text": "have someone dead to rights on something",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "With sufficient evidence to establish responsibility definitively."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "evidence",
          "evidence"
        ],
        [
          "responsibility",
          "responsibility"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, idiomatic) With sufficient evidence to establish responsibility definitively."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "idiomatic",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-dead to rights.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6a/En-au-dead_to_rights.ogg/En-au-dead_to_rights.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/En-au-dead_to_rights.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "bang to rights"
    },
    {
      "word": "red-handed"
    }
  ],
  "word": "dead to rights"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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