dead as Hector en · ADJ
Etymology
Referencing the story of Hector, a Trojan hero in Greek mythology and a character in Homer's Iliad, who leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, and is ultimately killed in single combat by Achilles, who later drags his dead body around the city of Troy behind his chariot.
Meanings
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(dated, not-comparable, qualifier:simile) Unquestionably dead.
[…] if a man, on coming up to his old friend’s cottage, finds the owner staring him in the face over a stile, all the while as dead as Hector,—still the answer is,—“Why, to be sure, all this is rather absurd; but then, Sir, consider the power.”
1823 July, “Scottish Novels of the Second Class”, in The Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany, volume 13, Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Company, page 4:
Relateds
Synonyms
good · whilom · breathless · reposing · with God · asleep · inanimate · wasted · decomposed · perished · deceased · departed · cold · fey · dead as a doornail · blessed · lifeless · late · unalive · inert · low · stiff · six feet under · gone · resting · defunct · no longer with us · cadaverous · six feet deep · unalived · clay-cold · extinct · kaput · living impaired · no more · expired · at rest · killed
wikipedia: Achilles · wikipedia: Homer · wikipedia: Iliad · wikipedia: Hector