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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
dead ringer
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ People tell me that if I was a bit taller, I'd be a dead ringer for that Malcolm Allison geezer.
Wiktionary
dead ringer

n. (context idiomatic English) Someone or something that very closely resembles another; someone or something easily mistaken for another.

WordNet
dead ringer

n. a person who is almost identical to another [syn: ringer, clone]

Wikipedia
Dead Ringer

Dead Ringer or Dead Ringers may refer to:

  • Dead ringer (idiom)
Dead Ringer (album)

Dead Ringer is a 1981 album by Meat Loaf and is the second of his three albums written entirely by Jim Steinman.

The album cover features an illustration by comic book artist and horror illustrator Bernie Wrightson.

Steinman started to work on Bad for Good, the album that was supposed to be the follow-up to 1977's Bat Out of Hell, in 1978. During that time, a combination of touring, drugs and exhaustion had caused Meat Loaf to lose his voice. Without a singer, and pressured by the record company, Steinman decided that he should sing on Bad for Good himself, and write a new album for Meat Loaf. This album was Dead Ringer, which was later released in 1981, after the release of Bad for Good.

After playing the role of Travis Redfish in the movie Roadie (which had cameos by Debbie Harry, Roy Orbison and Hank Williams, Jr., but was still a box office flop), Meat Loaf got his voice back, got off drugs, played softball, and started to work on his new album in 1980. Steinman had written five new songs which, in addition to the track "More Than You Deserve" (which Meat Loaf had sung in the musical with the same name) and a reworked monologue, formed the album Dead Ringer. The album was produced by Meat Loaf and Stephan Galfas, with backing tracks produced by Jimmy Iovine and Steinman. In 1976, Meat Loaf appeared on the track "Keeper Keep Us" from the Intergalactic Touring Band's self-titled album, which was produced by Galfas.

Four singles were released from Dead Ringer: " Dead Ringer for Love" (featuring Cher), " I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us", " Read 'Em and Weep" and " Peel Out". The album reached #1 in the UK.

The tour for this album also marked the beginning of his long-running collaboration with pianist Paul Jacobs, as both sideman and songwriter.

Dead Ringer (1964 film)

Dead Ringer, also known as Who is Buried in my Grave? is a 1964 thriller film made by Warner Bros. It was directed by Paul Henreid from a screenplay by Oscar Millard and Albert Beich from the story La Otra by Rian James, previously filmed in a Mexican version starring Dolores del Río. The music score was by André Previn and the cinematography by Ernest Haller. The film stars Bette Davis, Karl Malden and Peter Lawford with Philip Carey, Jean Hagen, George Macready, Estelle Winwood, George Chandler and Cyril Delevanti.

The film marks the second time Davis played twin sisters, the first being in the 1946 film A Stolen Life. For this reason, Dead Ringer is sometimes mistakenly listed as a remake of A Stolen Life.

Dead ringer (idiom)

Dead ringer is an idiom in English.

A ringer is defined in October 1882 in the Manitoba Free Press: "A horse that is taken through the country and trotted under a false name and pedigree is called a ringer."

The idiom dead ringer means "an exact duplicate".

Usage examples of "dead ringer".

But when they'd run the program on Rydell in the Academy, he'd come up a dead ringer for Howie Clacton, the Atlanta pitcher.

But when they’d run the program on Rydell in the Academy, he’d come up a dead ringer for Howie Clacton, the Atlanta pitcher.

He told her and Tony about the missing funds in San Francisco, about the dead ringer who had left the bizarre letter in the safe-deposit box--and about his own growing uncertainty as to the identity of the dead man in Bruno Frye's grave.

But since there seems to be a dead ringer for Bruno Frye, the subject of twins seemed like something you'd want to hear about.

If Buffalo Bill had ever worn tropical whites and a straw hat, he'd have been a dead ringer for Buffalo Bill.

A dead ringer for a sweetheart who all but point-blank invited me up here for .

More important, you're a dead ringer for her, just twelve years older.