Have someone at one's mercy, as in You have to pay up--they've got you by the balls. The balls here allude to the male genitals. [Vulgar slang; early 1900s]
have someone by the balls
| Idioms: have someone by the balls |
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 | by the short hairs (Idiom) |
| ball (Idiom) |
| have (Idiom) |
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 | Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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