IdiomBody & Senses
English
Englishdead on one's feet
Meaning: To be utterly exhausted.
Example: “After a double shift at the hospital, the nurse was dead on her feet.”
Origin: "Dead" for extremely tired was in use by the early 19th century; the phrase "dead on one's feet," still upright but hardly alive, appears later in that century.
Equivalents in other languages
French: Être à ramasser à la petite cuiller Literally: To be fit to be picked up with a small spoon
More English idioms
- lay it on with a trowel To flatter or exaggerate very heavily and without subtlety.
- burst someone's bubble To destroy someone's illusion or happy belief.
- prick up one's ears To suddenly start listening closely.
- rise from the ashes To be reborn or rebuilt after destruction or failure.
- stir up a hornet's nest To cause a lot of trouble or anger, often by provoking people.
- go down fighting To keep struggling until the very end, even when defeat is certain.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.
- The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. Believed by Guinness to be among the hardest in English — 'six/sick/sheikh/sheep' blur in…
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.
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