over my dead body
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Completely oppose something and would do anything to prevent it.
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Hoàn toàn phản đối và sẵn sàng làm mọi thứ để ngăn chặn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
John Magee said that when he told Mr Cranley that if IBM tried to drill, it ‘ will be over my dead body’, Mr Cranley replied ‘ in that case your body will be under the mud’.
She had asked Stephen a couple of weeks ago if Edward was coming and he had replied: ' Over my dead body. '
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “over my dead body” mean?
Completely oppose something and would do anything to prevent it.
Is “over my dead body” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.