drop-dead

See also: drop dead

English

Adverb

drop-dead (not comparable)

1. (informal) Very impressively or spectacularly.

   My date was drop-dead gorgeous!

   • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 21:

     Carmiesha "Lil' Muddah" Vernoy had been with me since back in the day. She was more than a dime piece. She was drop-dead gorgeous and had the best pussy in the world.

2. (informal, not comparable, business, law) Absolutely final; being the deadline, especially in relation to a date set out in a contract upon which adverse consequences will flow if the contract has not been fulfilled.

   drop-dead date

   • 2003, Joseph W. Bartlett, Ross Barrett, Michael Butler, Advanced Private Equity Term Sheets and Series A Documents:

     The intruding investor (VC #2) makes an offer at a pre-money valuation of $15 million, subject to due diligence, and the expiration of the "drop dead" date, meaning the date in the initial investor's term sheet when exclusivity expires.

   • 2010, Richard L. Daft, The Executive and the Elephant, page 96:

     As the drop-dead date approaches, my mind becomes more focused.

   • 2019, Lynn M. LoPucki, Elizabeth Warren, Robert M. Lawless, Secured Transactions: A Systems Approach, page 107:

     If the assets [of a steel mill] were not sold by a fixed date, […] the “drop-dead” provision of the settlement agreement would take effect. Under that provision, the mills would be closed, the stay would be lifted, and the secured creditors would take possession. Probably neither the debtor nor the secured creditors believed that a sale could be completed before the drop-dead date.

See also

• drop dead
• to die for

Anagrams

• dead drop, dead-drop