deadbeat

[n. ded-beet; adj. ded-beet] /n. ˈdɛdˌbit; adj. ˈdɛdˈbit/
noun
1.
a person who deliberately avoids paying debts.
2.
a loafer; sponger.
adjective
3.
being a parent who neglects parental responsibilities, especially one who does not pay child support:
deadbeat dads.
4.
Horology. noting any of various escapements acting without recoil of the locking parts from the shock of contact.
5.
Electricity. (of the indicator of an electric meter and the like) coming to a stop with little or no oscillation.
Origin
1760-70; dead + beat
Examples from the web for deadbeat
  • deadbeat dads breathe easy, its only science at work.
  • For every deadbeat borrower, there is an equal and opposite imprudent and usurious creditor.
  • Gwen's story starts with a deadbeat dad who walks out on the family, leaving her single mom struggling to get by.
  • Old boyfriends called her rage prone, co-workers called her snotty, landlords called her a deadbeat.
  • The problem is that usually our tax dollars are not used to benefit children because they go directly to their deadbeat parents.
British Dictionary definitions for deadbeat

deadbeat

/ˈdɛdˌbiːt/
noun
1.
(informal) a lazy or socially undesirable person
2.
(mainly US)
  1. a person who makes a habit of avoiding or evading his or her responsibilities or debts
  2. (as modifier): a deadbeat dad
3.
a high grade escapement used in pendulum clocks
4.
(modifier) (of a clock escapement) having a beat without any recoil
5.
(modifier) (physics)
  1. (of a system) returning to an equilibrium position with little or no oscillation
  2. (of an instrument or indicator) indicating a true reading without oscillation
Word Origin and History for deadbeat
n.

"worthless sponging idler," 1863, American English slang, perhaps originally Civil War slang, from dead (adj.) + beat. Earlier used colloquially as an adjectival expression to mean "completely beaten" (1821), and perhaps the base notion is of "worn out, good for nothing." It is noted in a British source from 1861 as a term for "a pensioner."

In England "dead beat" means worn out, used up. ... But here, "dead beat" is used, as a substantive, to mean a scoundrel, a shiftless, swindling vagabond. We hear it said that such a man is a beat or a dead beat. The phrase thus used is not even good slang. It is neither humorous nor descriptive. There is not in it even a perversion of the sense of the words of which it is composed. Its origin is quite beyond conjecture. ["Americanisms," in "The Galaxy," January 1878]
It also was used of a kind of regulating mechanism in pendulum clocks.

Slang definitions & phrases for deadbeat

deadbeat

noun

A person who habitually begs or gets money from others, does not pay his or her debts, etc; moocher, schnorrer: a chance to demand immediate payment if the clerk looks like a deadbeat

verb

To sponge, loaf, etc: Living off interest is not exactly deadbeating

[1863+; fr dead, ''complete, completely'' and beat, ''sponger'']