give one's eyeteeth

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Idioms and Phrases

Also, give one's right arm . Go to any lengths to obtain, as in She'd give her eyeteeth for a mink coat , or He'd give his right arm for a new car . These hyperbolic expressions both allude to something precious, the eyeteeth (or canines) being useful for both biting and chewing and the right arm a virtual necessity for the 90 percent of the population who are right-handed. Both date from the first half of the 1900s, when the first replaced give one's eyes , from the mid-1800s.

Word of the Day

April 19, 2024tortuous

[tawr-choo-uhs ]

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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