1865. Glasgow Herald, 25 Dec. ‘Trial Swanborough v. Sotheran.’ I returned the whole of the receipts, and about £4 16s. for DEAD BEATS—free admissions who took advantage of the occasion and got paid—which caused great discontent.
1884. S. L. CLEMENS, (‘Mark Twain’), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, xxviii. These uncles of yourn ain’t no uncles at all—they’re a couples of frauds—regular DEAD-BEATS.
1888. Bulletin, 24 Nov. All the DEAD-BEATS and suspected hen-snatchers plead when before the Bench that they were ‘only mouching round to find out whether the family neglected its religious dooties, yer washup.
2. (American).—A pick-me-up compounded of ginger, soda, and whiskey.
1880. Boston Journal. No party can DEAD-BEAT his way on me these hard times.
Adj.—Exhausted; e.g., Billy romped in as ‘fresh as paint,’ but the rest were DEAD-BEAT.
1821. P. EGAN, Tom and Jerry [ed. 1890], p. 34. Logic was at length not only so DEAD-BEAT, as to be compelled to cry for quarter, but to seek a temporary retirement, in order to renovate his constitution.
