drop-dead halt
drop-dead halt
[¦dräp ¦ded ′hȯlt] (computer science)
A machine halt from which there is no recovery; such a halt may occur through a logical error in programming; examples in which a drop-dead halt could occur are division by zero and transfer to a nonexistent instruction word. Also known as dead halt.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.