Punish severely, as in If I find the guy who slashed my tire I'll skin him alive. This hyperbolic expression transfers the barbaric practice of flaying a live prisoner to other forms of punishment. [Colloquial
mid-1800s]
| Idioms: skin alive |
Punish severely, as in If I find the guy who slashed my tire I'll skin him alive. This hyperbolic expression transfers the barbaric practice of flaying a live prisoner to other forms of punishment. [Colloquial
mid-1800s]
| alive (Idiom) | |
| skin (Idiom) | |
| Why doesn't it hurt when I have my hair or nails cut? (kids) |
| How does are skin keep us alive? Read answer... | |
| Why do animals have to be skinned alive for their fur? Read answer... | |
| Is there a blue skinned human alive? Read answer... |
| How does your skin use water to keep us alive? | |
| Did the iroquois indians skin people alive? | |
| Are the most outer layers of skin dead or alive? |
Copyrights:
![]() | 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 |
Mentioned in