drop-dead

Related to drop-dead: drop-dead date, drop-dead gorgeous

drop dead

1. verb To die suddenly. Brett always seemed so healthy—I'm shocked that he dropped dead at age 55.
2. rude slang An expression of dismissal and contempt for someone. I'm not cleaning up your mess! Drop dead!
3. adjective Spectacularly or sensationally striking, impressive, or awe-inspiring. Used before a noun. In this usage, if is often hyphenated. To flaunt his success, he always shows up in a flashy car with a drop-dead beauty in the passenger seat. She strode into the room wearing a drop-dead dress that made every head turn.
4. adjective Rudely dismissive or disdainful. Used before a noun. In this usage, if is often hyphenated. The politician eventually tempered his drop-dead attitude, indicating that he was willing to work with the groups that had been protesting his proposed legislation.
5. adverb Sensationally; spectacularly; outstandingly. Used before an adjective. In this usage, if is often hyphenated. He was kind of a pudgy, dorky looking kid in high school, but I just saw him at the reunion and he is drop-dead gorgeous now!
See also: dead, drop
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

drop-dead

COMMON You can use drop-dead to emphasize that someone or something is very attractive or beautiful. She's drop-dead gorgeous. The club was packed with drop-dead models.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

drop-dead

1. mod. stunning enough to make one drop dead. (Not literal.) I had my living room done in a bright drop-dead red that makes your blood run cold!
2. mod. rude, as if telling someone to drop dead. I couldn’t stand the boss’s drop-dead attitude, so I quit.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • flag
  • flagged
  • flagging
  • dished
  • gangshag
References in periodicals archive
Rob Hunt, partner at PwC and joint administrator at MG Rover, said: 'There have been a lot of reports saying Friday was the drop-dead day for MG Rover.
It's not all over for Rover, say administrators
If a "drop-dead" date is set, members could face discipline if signed with a talent agency that refuses to endorse the master franchise agreement.
SAG board balks on agency confrontation. (Whine In The Sand)
Jude Law is drop-dead gorgeous and if I hadn't seen Michael Caine's Alfie I'd be thirsting for the remake.
Jue's a Law unto himself
Crew catalog," he drives a Beamer, and he gets off football snaps "like a cruise missile." Every guy wants to be invited to his bashes, and every girl wants to be with him, but he only wants drop-dead gorgeous Didi, the girlfriend of Todd, the school quarterback.
Korman, Gordon. Jake, reinvented
Few women ever manage to look as drop-dead chic as the ones we see here embracing on the living room rug.
They sing, they dance, they kill: Catherine Deneuve and seven other great French actresses try to solve a murder between musical numbers in Francois Ozon's delicious 8 Women
Drop-Dead Gorgeous: Protecting Yourself from the Hidden Dangers of Cosmetics (Contemporary Books, $16.95), by E contributor Kim Erickson, makes you think twice before "putting on your face." The book exposes the cosmetic industry's use of synthetic chemicals in products that offer the promise of youth and beauty.
Lipstick lovers beware!
With clever and brassy numbers like "Grant Avenue" and "Chop Suey" (and my fave, "I Enjoy Being a Girl," which would make a drop-dead drag anthem), I was puzzled as to why it had never been revived.
Charles Long
Below ground, the evening performing companies at the Congress will have begun tightly scheduled, drop-dead on time technical and dress rehearsals.
Jazz Dance World Congress Goes Back to Buffalo
SHE is one of the world's top models and has sashayed down catwalks in gowns with drop-dead prices.
Catwalk queen Jodie's sew good
The Apprentice: promoting drop-dead shrewd, or drop-dead ugly?
You can't top a windy Trump
She could certainly never be described as drop-dead gorgeous which is apparently what first draws boring librarian Frank (John Simm) into her intricate web of lies and deceit.
Reviews: Movies - FOR RICCI, FOR POORER..SHAME; MIRANDA (15)
But Cameron is amazingly philosophical about growing old and losing her drop-dead gorgeous looks.
otr .. OFF THE RECORD: Diaz can't defy gravity
HOT on TV...that brunette assassin on 24, talk about drop-dead gorgeous...Jim Fenning in Bad Girls, the JR of G-Wing...top 'toon Samurai Jack...ER, also known as Op Idols ...and SAS: Are You Tough Enough?
Garry Bushell On The Box: HOT ROT
3 Francis Picabia (Michael Werner, Inc., New York) Absolute, drop-dead, delirium-inducing chic.
Lisa Liebmann
His new Sinners All certainly possesses many passages of drop-dead gorgeous movement: the playful and ecstatic Adam and Eve duet, performed with touching innocence by Eric Dunlap and Donna Scro Gentile; Louis's own quirky and debonair solo; and the final solo for Kimberly Gibilisco, delicate, mysterious, utterly captivating.
Staying power: Murray Louis and Nikolais Dance