Idiom
pound of flesh
Meaning
Something which is owed and which will be hurtful or difficult to provide; a debt owed to someone who is merciless and demanding.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The bank demands its pound of flesh even when you are struggling.”
“The landlord insisted on his pound of flesh, refusing to lower the rent despite the building's poor condition.”
“By enforcing the contract to the letter, the ruthless investor exacted his pound of flesh from the struggling startup founders.”
Examples
simple
“The bank demands its pound of flesh even when you are struggling.”
contextual
“The landlord insisted on his pound of flesh, refusing to lower the rent despite the building's poor condition.”
complex
“By enforcing the contract to the letter, the ruthless investor exacted his pound of flesh from the struggling startup founders.”
Origin
From Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, in which Antonio literally owes a pound of his flesh to the moneylender Shylock.
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated