Dead, in seafaring language, is very frequently employed as part of a designation or phrase having, in general, a meaning somewhat opposite to that of active, effective, or real. The chief of such phrases are the following: Dead-eyes, circular, flattish wooden blocks, without sheaves, and having eyes for lanyards, which form a purchase or tackle whereby the shrouds or other fixed rigging are extended or set-up taut; Dead-flat, the name for one of the midship-timbers; Dead-lights, strong wooden shutters used to close cabin-windows, on the approach of a storm, to protect the glass; Dead-ropes, such as do not run in blocks; Dead-wood is the term applied to the solid blocks of timber erected upon the keel throughout the sharp portions of a ship's hull at stem and stern, the chief object being to give solidity and strength to the ends of the ship; Dead-reckoning, an estimation of a ship's place without celestial observations, made chiefly by the log-book, and liable to error on account of currents, lee-way, fluctuation of wind, &c. To these may be added Dead-wind, a seaman's designation for a wind blowing directly against a ship's course.
Other compounds are Dead-lock, a position of matters when they have become so complicated that they are at a complete standstill and progress is impossible; Dead-freight, the compensation paid to the shipmaster by the merchant who freights a whole ship for the space which he fails to occupy; Dead language, one no longer spoken; and Dead-letter, a letter undelivered and unclaimed at the Post-office (q.v.). The Dead-points of an engine are when the connecting-rod and the crank are in one line (see CRANK). The impetus of the fly-wheel is necessary to carry the engine over these points, and if it is allowed to stand at either of them, a start is impossible till the fly-wheel is turned by hand sufficiently to permit of the piston acting on the crank.