What is the idiom dead as a doornail?

Totally or assuredly dead; also finished. For example, The cop announced that the body in the dumpster was dead as a doornail, or The radicalism she professed in her adolescence is now dead as a dodo, or The Equal Rights Amendment appears to be dead as a herring.

Who said Old Marley was as dead as a doornail?

“Old Marley was as dead as a doornail” is a quotation from the Charles Dickens novel titled “A Christmas Carol”. The words ‘dead as a doornail’ were used in this instance to mean not alive, unequivocally deceased.

What does it mean when Dickens says Marley is as dead as a doornail?

Meaning of “As Dead as a Doornail” It means that an animate thing has no life left in it. It also means finished, useless or perished and does not exist anymore.

What unfair request does Scrooge’s clerk make of his boss?

What “unfair” request does Scrooge’s clerk make of his boss? That he doesn’t want to give away his money and won’t let him off for Christmas.

What character is being described in this quotation solitary as an oyster?

Scrooge is described as being ‘solitary as an oyster’ (p. 2). This simile suggests he is shut up, tightly closed and will not be prised open except by force. However, an oyster might contain a pearl, so it also suggests there might be good buried deep inside him, underneath the hard, brittle shell.

What is the punishment to which Marley is subjected?

When Scrooge asks why the Ghost is fettered in heavy chains and links, Marley replies that he has been cursed to wander the earth for seven years while bearing the weight of his sins.

What word does Scrooge use to describe Christmas?

Scrooge at Christmas ”Bah! Humbug!” he says in regard to the cheerful spirits of those anticipating the holiday.

Where did the saying ‘deaf as a Doornail’ originate?

The expression was in widespread colloquial use in England by the 16th century, when Shakespeare gave these lines to the rebel leader Jack Cade in King Henry VI, Part 2, 1592:

Where did the idiom ‘dead as a Doornail’ come from?

The term dead as a doornail was used in the 1500s by William Shakespeare , and in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in 1843. It is thought that the phrase dead as a doornail comes from the manner of securing doornails that were hammered into a door by clenching them .

What is a Doornail and why would it be dead?

Some say that the doornail in the phrase refers to the nail on which the knocker was struck. It was placed there to make a clearer knocking sound. One idea is that this nail was considered to be dead because the usual metallic ring of the nail was deadened to a dull knock as the sound was diffused into the door.

What does dead as a Doornail mean?

dead as a doornail. Also, dead as a dodo or herring. Totally or assuredly dead; also finished. For example, The cop announced that the body in the dumpster was dead as a doornail, or The radicalism she professed in her adolescence is now dead as a dodo, or The Equal Rights Amendment appears to be dead as a herring.