dead to rights
11
8.6
- idiom
- Informal
:
con las manos en la masa
- The detective had him dead to rights with evidence from the crime scene.
- got you dead to rights
- caught dead to rights
No, that person is guilty, dead to rights.
- No, that person is guilty, dead to rights.
- Those people, man, I mean, we had these guys dead to rights and they said it has to be Felix, OK?
Examples
-
I had him dead to rights.
-
I have that criminal boy dead to rights.
Fiction book (2001) -
I have him dead to rights.
-
We got him dead to rights.
-
You had him dead to rights.
-
You got me dead to rights.
-
This time I got you dead to rights.
Fiction book (1994) -
Paper says the Bureau has him dead to rights.
-
You've been caught dead to rights.
-
They had us dead to rights.
Synonyms
24
3.8
Caught in the act of doing something wrong with clear proof
9
4.6
Discovered while doing something wrong or illegal
Caught in the act with clear proof
Legally and morally at fault for wrongdoing so they cannot claim money in court
Antonyms
How Guilty
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although 'dead' can mean 'completely' and 'rights' relates to legal entitlements, the combined phrase 'dead to rights' meaning 'caught undeniably guilty' is idiomatic and not derivable from the literal senses of the constituents. The construction is historically and idiomatically specific, so a B1 learner who knows the individual words would be unlikely to infer the MWE's meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Dead to rights may come from old police talk: dead meant 'completely' and rights meant the clear proof the police had, so imagine a person caught with the evidence and no way to deny it. That's why the phrase means 'caught beyond doubt'.