1
general::
Phrase(s): more dead than alive
Fig. exhausted; in very bad condition; near death. (Almost always an exaggeration.) • We arrived at the top of the mountain more dead than alive. • The marathon runners stumbled one by one over the finish line, more dead than alive.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Exhausted, in poor condition, as in By the time I got off that mountain I was more dead than alive. This idiom may be used either hyperbolically or literally. [c. 1900]
American Heritage Idioms