wouldn't be seen dead

wouldn't be seen dead

English

Verb

wouldn't be seen dead

1. (idiomatic) To find incredibly horrifying; embarrassing or otherwise entirely unsuitable for oneself.
   • 1916, P. G. Wodehouse, Uneasy Money Chapter 1

     I really don't want to buy anything. You seem by bad luck to be stocked up with just the sort of things I wouldn't be seen dead in a ditch with. I can't stand rubber rings, never could. I'm not really keen on buttonhooks.

   • 2012, Christopher Brookmyre, One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night

     He'd seen an item about the resort on TV, though he couldn't remember whether it had been Tomorrow's World, Holiday or Eurotrash. What he could remember was swearing he wouldn't be seen dead in the place