核心畫面

You can think of stone here as a word that closes a door. Dead already says the thing; stone says there is no crack left open, nothing that is partly otherwise, nothing that might still come back. English uses stone this way in a small family of words — stone-cold works the same. So both meanings are really one move: take a flat, final word and push it all the way to the end.

可以想成 stone 在這裡是一個「把門關上」的字。dead 本身已經把話說完了,stone 則是說:沒有留縫、沒有更多收起可以想成 stone 在這裡是一個「把門關上」的字。dead 本身已經把話說完了,stone 則是說:沒有留縫、沒有一部分不是這樣、也沒有回來的可能。英文有一小群字都這樣用 stone,stone-cold 就是同一種造法。所以兩個意思其實是同一個動作:把一個本來就很硬的字,再推到最底。

From the word’s history

The supplied source records stone dead from Middle English stone-dede / stan-ded, equivalent to stone + dead, and compares stone-cold and stonehard — a small family in which stone works as an intensifier.

手上的資料把 stone dead 記為中古英語 stone-dede、stan-ded,等於 stone 加 dead,並且拿 stone-cold、stonehard 相比。也就是說,stone 在這一小群字裡的角色一直是加強語氣。

Wiktionary entry for 'stone dead' supplied in this packet (etymology_text: 'From Middle English stone-dede, stan-ded, standed, equivalent to stone + dead. Compare English stone-cold, stonehard, etc.'), source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1671636719

One branch

推到底的 dead:從真的死了,到把事情做死

兩個意思共用同一個加強動作,差別在被關上門的是一條命還是一件事。

adjective · B2

Completely dead, with nothing left in doubt. Used about a person or an animal when you want to make the fact clear and final.

死透了