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dead·wood

(dĕdwd′)

1. Dead wood, including fallen or standing trees, branches, and stumps.

2. One or more people or things considered as burdensome, superfluous, or serving no useful purpose: Management fired all the deadwood in the department as a cost-saving measure.

3. also dead wood Sports Fallen bowling pins that remain on the alley.

4. Nautical A timber or set of timbers helping to connect the keel of a vessel to the stem or the sternpost.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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