deadline

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A time limit in the form of a date on or before which something must be completed.

   I must make this deadline or my boss will kill me!

2. 2
   noun

   the point in time at which something must be completed

3. 3
   noun

   A guideline marked on a plate for a printing press.

4. 4
   noun

   A line that does not move.

5. 5
   noun

   A boundary around a prison, prisoners crossing which would be shot.

6. 6
   verb

   To render an item non-mission-capable; to ground an aircraft, etc.

Etymology

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, early usage refers to lines that do not move, such as one used in angling. Slightly later American usage refers to a boundary in a prison which prisoners must not cross. There is only indirect evidence that the sense of "due date" may be connected with this use of the term in prison camps during the American Civil War, when it referred to a physical line or boundary beyond which prisoners were shot. In 1904, in a report from the US Department of Commerce and Labor, the term is used for "minimum work goals" (and in contrast to bonus line): for example…