dead and alive—(also: dead-alive)
1. (of a place) spiritless or boring:
- This is rather a dead and alive place but I like the climate for I have not known a sick day since I have been up here.
2. (of people) miserable; inactive and dull:
- Part of my early days in London I was familiar with what is called hyper–Calvinistic Baptists … but I never was amongst such a dead-and-alive lot.
half dead—(also: more dead than alive) in a very poor physical condition owing to illness, etc.:
- I had identified the latitude and the longitude of the place where he was, and there they found him, half dead, but alive.