pound of flesh

noun phrase

: a payment or penalty exacted to fulfill a deal or punishment
loan sharks taking their pound of flesh

Examples of pound of flesh in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
The result has been an unmitigated disaster for animals: more animals in more places are confined in restrictive conditions utterly unlike their natural environments and are pushed beyond their physiological limits to produce ever-greater numbers of eggs, gallons of milk, and pounds of flesh. Miyun Park, Foreign Affairs, 13 Feb. 2012 Viewers will have their pound of flesh, whether reality stars are willing or not. Megan Farokhmanesh, WIRED, 9 Aug. 2024 So your 20-pound watermelon with 14 pounds of flesh will leave you with 21 cups of fresh fruit to use. Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 July 2024 Alcohol never walks away from a good time without taking its pound of flesh. Allison Robicelli, Washington Post, 3 Jan. 2024 To get its pound of flesh, Elliot didn’t shy away from theatrics, either, going so far as to seize a naval training vessel in Ghana. Kate Aronoff, The New Republic, 9 June 2023 Getting the work done right, however, can extract a pound of flesh, judging from the No. 2 consumer complaint from last year: home repairs and renovations. Jeanne Sahadi, CNN, 24 May 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1827, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of pound of flesh was in 1827

Dictionary Entries Near pound of flesh

Cite this Entry

“Pound of flesh.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pound%20of%20flesh. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

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