Definition of "drop-dead" [drop-dead]

• Slang Very impressive; spectacular: "a special video of the best-dressed women making drop-dead, knockout entrances at parties and fashion shows in Paris and New York” ( André Leon Talley). (adjective)
• Slang Of or relating to a deadline that cannot be changed: a drop-dead date. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "If Congress doesn't reach an agreement by Aug. 2, the so-called drop-dead date as determined by the Treasury Department, the government could find itself unable to meet all its obligations."
• "From eastern and mid-west woodlands, these native poppy relatives bloom in early spring with flowers made up of layers of satiny white, paper-thin petals that can only be described as drop-dead gorgeous!"
• "Yet he wasn’t what she would call drop-dead gorgeous, or even handsome, at least not in the usual sense, and perhaps that was what appealed to her."