dead amiss

English

Adjective

dead amiss (not comparable)

1. (horse racing) Of a horse: too ill to compete.
   • 1840, John William Carleton, The Sporting Review, page 286:

     At the mention of the increased amount of odds, the snob took the youngster aside, and said to him, "Look now, by the book, we have the old man done brown; my horse is dead amiss, your cousin's horse you can beat easy, […]

   • 1870, Tresham Gilbey, Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, volume 18, page 320:

     Sunshine ran gamely, but was clearly out of condition; and Gamos, who was dead amiss at Bath, having got round, beat her from the superiority of her training, […]

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary