dead meat
In serious trouble
Dead meat describes someone in serious trouble or facing severe consequences.
The phrase treats a person as already slaughtered—beyond saving: If my parents find out, I'm dead meat.
It can also refer to someone doomed to fail or lose: Once she testifies, he's dead meat.
The image is of a carcass rather than a living creature.
One beyond saving
- finishedBrought to an end
- done forRuined beyond repair
- toastHeated bread; glass-raising honor
- historyRecord of past events
sunk · kaput · condemned · marked · targeted · in for it · no escape · no chance
Heated liquid, or trouble
- dire straitsSevere hardship or peril
- deep troubleSevere difficulty or danger
- big troubleSevere difficulty or danger
- jeopardyRisk of harm
peril · bind · pickle · tight spot · sticky situation · danger zone · on thin ice · in the doghouse
goner
One beyond saving
history · sunk · kaput · condemned · marked · targeted · in for it · no escape · no chance · written off
hot water
Heated liquid, or trouble
- dire straitsSevere hardship or peril
- deep troubleSevere difficulty or danger
- big troubleSevere difficulty or danger
jeopardy · peril · bind · pickle · tight spot · sticky situation · danger zone · on thin ice · in the doghouse · facing the music
- death idiomskick the bucket, six feet under, deadbeat, deadpan, bought the farm
dead meatsafe
Free from peril
in the clear · off the hook · home free · scot-free · out of the woods
dead meatforgiven
Granted mercy for wrongdoing
in the clear · pardoned · off the hook · golden · exonerated
meat, death, deadly, meaty, deaden, meats, undead, dead, meatless