deadbeat

nounadjectiveattested in dialogue

United Kingdom//ˈdɛdbiːt//

A lazy or irresponsible person who is often unemployed, often depending upon wealthy or otherwise financially independent people for support.

noun

1
A lazy or irresponsible person who is often unemployed, often depending upon wealthy or otherwise financially independent people for support.
2
A person who defaults on debts.
With a few exceptions, all those changes were published in the Ontario Gazette, a little-read compendium of government business that comes out every week. The province requires this by law, as do most Canadian jurisdictions, nominally to thwart fraudsters and deadbeats.
3
slangA customer who pays their credit card or loan balance in full and on time each month, thereby incurring no interest charges. (Compare revolver, who carries a balance and pays interest.)
Deadbeat is slang for a credit card user who pays their balance in full and on time each month. […] A deadbeat is also called a "nonrevolver" or a "transactor." […] However, so-called deadbeats in the credit world also do not rack up bills they never pay, so they do not generate significant losses for credit card companies like real deadbeats, who do not pay their bills.

Etymology

From dead + beat. As an adjective, of a person, to be exhausted, first use appears c. the 1820s. During the American Civil War, it also became a derogatory adjective, in the sense of "a person that defaults on their debts or avoids responsibilities" and "sponger", "vagabond". This sense dates from c. 1863. Possibly related to good for nothing.

adjective

1
Having a damped needle that stops without oscillation.
2
Defaulting on one's debts.
3
Defeated or exhausted.
4
Lazy or irresponsible.
5
Dead tired.

Forms

plural: deadbeats

deacon · A designated minister of charity in the early Church (see…Deacon · A surname originating as an occupation.dead · No longer living; deceased. (Also used as a noun.)

deadbeat · A lazy or irresponsible person who is often unemployed, often depending upon wealthy or otherwise financially independent people for support.

deadline · A time limit in the form of a date on or before which…deadly · Causing death; lethal.deaf · Unable (or partially able) to hear.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.