a dead ringer for someone

dead ringer

A person or thing that bears a strong resemblance to someone or something else. Susie was such a dead ringer for Kate Winslet that sometimes people would ask her for her autograph.
See also: dead, ringer

dead ringer for (someone)

A person or thing that bears a strong resemblance to someone or something else. Susie was such a dead ringer for Kate Winslet that sometimes people would ask her for her autograph.
See also: dead, ringer
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a dead ringer for someone

INFORMAL
COMMON If you say that one person is a dead ringer for another, you mean that the first person looks or sounds exactly like the second. He's tall, dark and a dead-ringer for Robert Pattinson. Kovic is extraordinary in one respect: he's a dead ringer for the former US President. Note: The word `ringer' may originally have come from a name for dishonest traders at fairs who sold brass rings, pretending they were gold. In American horse racing, a `ringer' is a horse that has been dishonestly substituted for another in a race.
See also: dead, ringer, someone
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
See also:
  • dead ringer
  • dead ringer for (someone)
  • dead ringer for someone
  • a dead ringer for somebody
  • be a dead ringer for
  • ringer
  • look like a (dead) ringer for (someone)
  • look like a ringer
  • first cousin
  • the spit and image of (one)
References in periodicals archive
"Embarrassingly, they thought I was a dead ringer for someone else off the box - Mr Bean!
They Said What?
If you know anyone who's a Dead Ringer for someone famous, send their picture to us.
Strikes? Major can't beef now