deadline（n.）
“time limit”（时间限制），1920年，美国英语报纸行话，源自于 dead（死亡的）+ line（线）。可能受到早期用法（1864年）的影响，该用法指代内战监狱中的“不可越过”线，这在亚特森维尔监狱的邦联指挥官亨利·维尔兹的审判中起了作用。
And he, the said Wirz, still wickedly pursuing his evil purpose, did establish and cause to be designated within the prison enclosure containing said prisoners a "dead line," being a line around the inner face of the stockade or wall enclosing said prison and about twenty feet distant from and within said stockade; and so established said dead line, which was in many places an imaginary line, in many other places marked by insecure and shifting strips of [boards nailed] upon the tops of small and insecure stakes or posts, he, the said Wirz, instructed the prison guard stationed around the top of said stockade to fire upon and kill any of the prisoners aforesaid who might touch, fall upon, pass over or under [or] across the said "dead line" .... ["Trial of Henry Wirz," Report of the Secretary of War, Oct. 31, 1865]
他，即上述的维尔兹，仍然邪恶地追求他的邪恶目的，在包含上述囚犯的监狱围栏内部设立并指定了一条“死线”，即在围绕该监狱的围墙或墙壁的内侧面上划定的一条线，距离该围栏或墙壁约二十英尺远； 并且，他这样设立了这条死线，这在许多地方是一条想象中的线，在许多其他地方则是由不安全和易变的木板条组成的，这些木板条被钉在小而不安全的桩子或柱子的顶部上； 他，即上述的维尔兹，指示驻扎在上述围栏顶部的监狱警卫向任何触碰、跌倒、越过或穿过上述“死线”的上述囚犯开火并杀死他们.... ["Trial of Henry Wirz," Report of the Secretary of War, Oct. 31, 1865]
该词起源时间：1920年