Meaning
A person or thing that looks exactly like another; an exact double. Typically 'a dead ringer for someone'. Informal and usually light-hearted; the premature-burial explanation is a debunked myth. Regional use: General English (American origin).
Origin
The phrase is late-19th-century American. 'Ringer' was criminal and sporting slang for a fraudulent substitute: 'ringing the changes' meant swapping a worthless item for a valuable one, and horse racing used 'ringer' for a horse raced under a false name and pedigree, defined in the Manitoba Free Press of October 1882. 'Dead' is an intensifier meaning 'exact', as in 'dead centre' or 'dead shot'. The Phrase Finder records the earliest known use of the full phrase in its lookalike sense in the Oshkosh Weekly Times of June 1888 ('Dat's a dead ringer fo me.'). A widely circulated folk etymology connects the phrase with safety bells tied to coffins for people buried prematurely; there is no evidence for this story and no link to 'saved by the bell'.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a dead ringer
- dead ringer for
- dead ringers
- ringer
Usage Examples
- The new cashier is a dead ringer for the actor who plays the detective.
- In profile, the two towers are dead ringers, though one is a century older.
- Everyone says my cousin is a dead ringer for her grandmother at the same age.