What does "deadlift" mean?

A weight training exercise where one lifts a loaded barbell off the ground from a stabilized bent-over position.

Deadlift

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A weight training exercise where one lifts a loaded barbell off the ground from a stabilized bent-over position.
"2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xii I never did a squat or a deadlift—the exercises I now know are best for building a bigger, stronger, more athletic-looking body—because I had access to leg-extension, leg-curl, and leg-press machines."
2
a weight training exercise in which a loaded barbell is lifted off the ground to the hips, then lowered back to the ground wordnet
3
Any lift performed without help or leverage.
4
An effort made under discouraging conditions. broadly, figuratively

Verb

1
To lift a barbell while moving the body from a bent-over position to a standing position. transitive

"Powerlifting is a sport in which athletes compete to lift the maximum sum weight of the three heavy weight events, squat, bench press and deadlift."

From dead + lift.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.