unquestionably dead. used for both inanimate objects and once living beings

English - English

Definition of unquestionably dead. used for both inanimate objects and once living beings in English English dictionary

dead as a doornail

Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door–nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin–nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door–nail.

Hyphenation

un·ques·tion·a·bly dead. used for both in·a·ni·mate objects and once li·ving beings