Idiom
tan someone's hide
Meaning
To beat or spank someone, usually on their backside.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“If you break that vase, your father will tan your hide.”
“You should stop fighting before your mother decides to tan your hide.”
“He was afraid the angry neighbor would tan his hide for breaking the window.”
“The farmer warned the boys that he would tan their hides if they were caught stealing apples again.”
“My grandfather often tells stories about how his teachers would tan his hide whenever he skipped his chores to go fishing at the river.”
“The coach was so angry about the team's lazy attitude that he looked ready to tan someone's hide right there on the field.”
“The stern schoolmaster threatened to tan the hide of any student who dared to disrupt his lecture with such insolent behavior.”
Examples
simple
“If you break that vase, your father will tan your hide.”
“You should stop fighting before your mother decides to tan your hide.”
“He was afraid the angry neighbor would tan his hide for breaking the window.”
contextual
“The farmer warned the boys that he would tan their hides if they were caught stealing apples again.”
“My grandfather often tells stories about how his teachers would tan his hide whenever he skipped his chores to go fishing at the river.”
“The coach was so angry about the team's lazy attitude that he looked ready to tan someone's hide right there on the field.”
complex
“The stern schoolmaster threatened to tan the hide of any student who dared to disrupt his lecture with such insolent behavior.”
Origin
The term arises by way of a metaphor from the leather tannery, where animal skins are subjected to a series of physical and chemical indignities. To condition the hide for use, it must be beaten, scraped, and treated with tannins; the idiom merely transfers this vigorous structural preparation from the animal carcass to the human subject.
Key words
Related idioms
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