dead from the neck up
- idiom
- Offensive
:
con el cerebro frito
- The long meeting left everyone feeling dead from the neck up by the time it finally ended.
Examples
-
After studying for hours without a break, I felt completely dead from the neck up.
-
Revere strategy of trying to wake up those who appear to be dead from the neck up?
Blog text (5) -
Sitting in that boring lecture, I realized I was dead from the neck up and couldn't focus at all.
Synonyms
62
4.1
Unable to feel or show emotion after something upsetting
6
8.4
Moving slowly and not fully aware because you are very tired
2
7.1
Very tired after hard physical or mental work
Antonyms
How Alert
Surface Forms
Morphology
The parts 'dead' (not functioning) and 'from the neck up' (the head/brain area) combine to give a fairly transparent metaphor of the mind not working, so a learner who knows the words can plausibly infer that it refers to mental dullness or inability to think. However, the use of 'dead' in a figurative, regionalized way is metaphorical and idiomatic enough that the precise nuance (temporary mental blankness vs. permanent incapacity) may not be fully predictable without exposure. For these reasons it is partially transparent but not fully compositional.
Etymology
Dead from the neck up creates a clear picture: imagine the body moving while everything above the neck is 'dead' and not working. That's why people use it to mean 'mentally exhausted' or unable to think clearly.