dead wood

英 [ˌded ˈwʊd]

美 [ˌded ˈwʊd]

n.  冗员; 废物

牛津词典

noun

• 冗员；废物
  people or things that have become useless or unnecessary in an organization

柯林斯词典

• N-UNCOUNT 不再有用的人(或事物);累赘;冗余
  People or things that have been used for a very long time and that are no longer considered to be useful can be referred to asdead wood.
  1. ...the idea that historical linguistics is so much dead wood.
     认为历史语言学完全冗赘无用的观点

双语例句