deadline: Definition and Much More from Answers.com

Origin: 1864

It began as a real line, drawn in the dirt or marked by a fence or rail, restricting prisoners in Civil War camps. They were warned, "If you cross this line, you're dead." To make dead sure this important boundary was not overlooked, guards and prisoners soon were calling it by its own bluntly descriptive name, the dead line. An 1864 congressional report explains the usage in one camp: "A railing around the inside of the stockade, and about twenty feet from it, constitutes the 'dead line,' beyond which the prisoners are not allowed to pass." Nothing could be more emphatic than dead line to designate a limit, so we Americans happily applied the term to other situations with strict boundaries. For example, the storyteller O. Henry wrote in 1909 about crossing "the dead line of good behavior." But it was the newspaper business that made deadline more than just a historical curiosity. To have the latest news and still get a newspaper printed and distributed on time requires strict time limits for those who write it. Yet many are the excuses for writers to go beyond their allotted time: writers' block, writers' perfectionism, or just plain procrastination. (Perhaps the writer is a deadbeat (1863)--another dead word invented by Americans during the Civil War.) Seeking the strongest possible language to counter these temptations, editors set deadlines, with the implication that "Your story is dead--You are dead--if you go beyond this time to finish it."

Our urgent twentieth century has made such deadlines essential not just for reporters and other writers but in every kind of activity; there are deadlines for finishing a job or assignment, for entering a contest, for ransoming hostages, or for buying a product at the special sale price.

---

Dansk (Danish)
n. - afleveringsfrist, grænselinje
v. tr. - sætte tidsfrist

Nederlands (Dutch)
deadline, (tijds)limiet

Français (French)
n. - butoir/limite, dernière limite, (US) limite (qu'il est interdit de franchir)
v. tr. - gouverner (jusqu'à une date butoir)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Stichtag, letzter Termin
v. - den Termin einhalten

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - διορία, προθεσμία, οριακή γραμμή, επιτρεπόμενο όριο

Italiano (Italian)
scadenza

Português (Portuguese)
n. - prazo (m) de entrega

Русский (Russian)
крайний срок

Español (Spanish)
n. - fecha tope, plazo límite
v. tr. - fijar plazo límite

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - tidsgräns, frist

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
死线, 截止期限, 原稿截止时间, 提出截止期限

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 死線, 截止期限, 原稿截止時間
v. tr. - 提出截止期限

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 사선, 마감 시한, 고치기 위해 모아 둔 자동차
v. tr. - 마감 시한을 두다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 越えられない線, 死線, デッドライン

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) خط يرسم حول السجن لا يجوز للسجناء تجاوزه وإلا أطلقت عليهم النار, الموعد الأخير المحدد لانجاز عمل ما‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מועד סופי, מועד אחרון, קו שאסור לעברו‬
v. tr. - ‮הסדיר (את העניין) ע"י קביעת מועד סופי‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.