A Deadline is the final date or time a task has to be completed by. The original deadline was a white line painted at Andersonville prisoner of war camp in America during the American Civil War. Andersonville had no wire or fences around its perimeter, simply marksmen. Any prisoner crossing the white line was shot dead, with no questions asked. Then, the phrase was applied to newspaper writers who had to have their article submitted by a certain time before a publication went to print. If they missed the deadline the story was considered dead as it would be out of date by the following day's print run.