Meaning of Idiom ‘Dead Ringer’ A dead ringer is a person or thing that resembles another person or thing perfectly or almost perfectly; someone who looks very similar to another person; an exact or near exact likeness or duplicate. What does a dead ringer for expression mean? The word 'dead' in this expression refers not to lifelessness, but to “precise” or “exact.”
Definition of a dead ringer for in the Idioms Dictionary. ringer (n.) early 15c., "one who rings" (a bell), agent noun from ring (v.1). American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. a dead ringer for phrase. 1 Jarvie, Gordon. Ringer is slang for a look-alike horse, athlete, etc. Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. What Is the Origin of the Saying "A Dead Ringer"? . Unscrupulous racehorse owners have a fast horse and a slow horse that are nearly identical in appearance. Origin : The definition of ringer, from which this phrase comes, is "substituted racehorse." Meaning an identical looking person, the term dead ringer originally referred to a horse that had been substituted for another of similar appearance to defraud the bookies. It means "an exact duplicate" or "100% duplicate", and derives from 19th-century horse-racing slang for a horse presented "under a false name and pedigree"; "ringer" was a late nineteenth-century term for a duplicate, usually with implications of dishonesty, and "dead" in this case means "precise", as in "dead centre". Learn more. Answer (1 of 4): Sorry to say, but that seems to miss the meaning of the phrase entirely, which is: To appear exactly alike something else, typically another person or living being: He is a dead ringer for the prince, one might say, ringer meaning identical and dead meaning exactly.The phrase is of American origin, from sca. .er, frauds once perpetrated in horse trading. Bloomsbury Dictionary of Idioms.London: Bloomsbury, 2009., 2 Ammer, Christine. The expression 'dead ringer' comes from American horse racing and originated at the end of the 19th century, when a horse that would be raced under a false name and pedigree was called a ringer. In quoits (and by extension, horseshoes) from 1863, from ring (v.2). They run the slow horse until the betting odds reached the desired level, then they substitute the ringer… What does a dead ringer … dead ringer definition: 1. someone or something that looks very similar to someone or something else: 2. someone or…. Dead ringer is an idiom in English. The verb to ring has long been used by the criminal fraternity to mean to substitute. But all that has nothing to do with the origin of the expression dead ringer.
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