a person who attends a performance, sports event, etc., or travels on a train, airplane, etc., without having paid for a ticket, especially a person using a complimentary ticket or free pass.
2.
a train, railroad car, airplane, truck, or other commercial vehicle while operating empty, as when returning to a terminal.
(of a commercial vehicle) to travel without cargo or paying passengers: The train carried coal to Pittsburgh and then deadheaded back to Virginia to pick up another load.
1970s in sense of "devotee of the band the Grateful Dead;" earlier "train or truck carrying no passengers or freight" (1911) and "non-paying spectator" (1841).
tv. & in. [for someone] to return an empty truck, train, airplane, etc., to where it came from. : I deadheaded back to Los Angeles.
n. a follower of the rock group the Grateful Dead. : My son is a deadhead and travels all over listening to these guys.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences
The route is the path the bus travels from the school to either pick up or drop off student, not to include deadhead mileage.
With repeat-flowering kinds, deadhead spent blooms regularly, cutting back several inches to a five-leaflet leaf.
Some of the lakes were the repositories for slab wood, sawdust, and deadhead logs left after early logging.
Fertilize, water, and deadhead occasionally for a riot of bloom and texture all summer long.
The registrant must record all movement of apportioned vehicles including loaded, empty, deadhead and/or bobtail distance.
The total hours of travel by bus, including both revenue service and deadhead travel.
Which means you don't deadhead them and end up with lots of volunteers.
Continue to deadhead existing plants, and fertilize one last time early in the month.