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pound of flesh

 [flesh]   Origin

flesh

   [flesh]
noun
1.
the soft substance of a human or other animal body, consisting of muscle and fat.
2.
muscular and fatty tissue.
3.
this substance or tissue in animals, viewed as an article of food, usually excluding fish and sometimes fowl; meat.
4.
fatness; weight.
5.
the body, especially as distinguished from the spirit or soul: The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
EXPAND
6.
the physical or animal nature of humankind as distinguished from its moral or spiritual nature: the needs of the flesh.
7.
humankind.
8.
living creatures generally.
9.
a person's family or relatives.
10.
Botany. the soft, pulpy portion of a fruit, vegetable, etc., as distinguished from the core, skin, shell, etc.
11.
the surface of the human body; skin: A person with tender flesh should not expose it to direct sunlight.
12.
flesh color.
COLLAPSE
verb (used with object)
13.
to plunge (a weapon) into the flesh.
14.
Hunting. to feed (a hound or hawk) with flesh in order to make it more eager for the chase. Compare blood (def. 16).
15.
to incite and accustom (persons) to bloodshed or battle by an initial experience.
16.
to inflame the ardor or passions of by a foretaste.
17.
to overlay or cover (a skeleton or skeletal frame) with flesh or with a fleshlike substance.
EXPAND
18.
to give dimension, substance, or reality to (often followed by out): The playwright wrote pretty good characters, but the actors really fleshed them out.
19.
to remove adhering flesh from (hides), in leather manufacture.
20.
Archaic. to satiate with flesh or fleshly enjoyments; surfeit; glut.
COLLAPSE

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Pound of flesh is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
Verb phrase
21.
flesh out,
a.
to gain weight: He realized to his dismay that he had fleshed out during the months of forced inactivity.
b.
to add details to or make more complete: She fleshed out her proposal considerably before presenting it to the committee for action.
Idioms
22.
in the flesh, present and alive before one's eyes; in person: The movie star looked quite different in the flesh.
23.
pound of flesh, something that strict justice demands is due, but can only be paid with great loss or suffering to the payer.
24.
press the flesh, Informal. to shake hands, as with voters while campaigning: The senator is busy as ever pressing the flesh on the campaign trail.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English flesc, Old English flǣsc; cognate with Old Frisian flēsk, Old High German fleisk (German Fleisch), Old Norse flesk bacon

Related forms
flesh·less, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To pound of flesh
Collins
World English Dictionary
pound of flesh
 
—n
something that is one's legal right but is an unreasonable demand (esp in the phrase to have one's pound of flesh)
 
[from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (1596), Act IV, scene i]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

flesh
1520s, "to render (a hunting animal) eager for prey by rewarding it with flesh from a kill," with figurative extensions, from flesh (n.). Meaning "to clothe or embody with flesh," with figurative extensions, is from 1660s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

flesh (flěsh)
n.
The soft tissue of the body of a vertebrate, covering the bones and consisting mainly of skeletal muscle and fat.

flesh'y adj.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

pound of flesh definition


Creditors who insist on having their “pound of flesh” are those who cruelly demand the repayment of a debt, no matter how much suffering it will cost the debtor: “The bank will have its pound of flesh; it is going to foreclose on our mortgage and force us to sell our home.” The expression is from The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare.

pound of flesh definition


A phrase from the play The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare. The moneylender Shylock demands the flesh of the “merchant of Venice,” Antonio, under a provision in their contract. Shylock never gets the pound of flesh, however, because the character Portia discovers a point of law that overrides the contract: Shylock is forbidden to shed any blood in getting the flesh from Antonio's body.

Note: People who cruelly or unreasonably insist on their rights are said to be demanding their “pound of flesh.”
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

pound of flesh

A debt whose payment is harshly insisted on, as in The other members of the cartel all want their pound of flesh from Brazil. This expression alludes to the scene in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (4:1) where the moneylender Shylock demands the pound of flesh promised him in payment for a loan, and Portia responds that he may have it but without an ounce of blood (since blood was not promised). [c. 1600]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
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