for the life of one

Idioms  

1. Although trying hard, as in I can't for the life of me remember his name. This expression is always used hyperbolically, that is, one's life is not at all endangered. [Late 1700s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

for the life of one

It is not, you know, to terminate in seven years, like an apprenticeship or a commercial partnership, but it is an engagement for the life of one of the parties.

From The Ladies Book of Useful Information Compiled from many sources by Anonymous

I stand here a suppliant for the life of one whose loss would embitter mine!

From The American Union Speaker by John D. (John Dudley) Philbrick

It is what Sergius Thord has worked for all his life!—it is what this King claims over his subjects—and yet—both monarch and reformer would give it all for the life of one woman back again!

From Temporal Power by Marie Corelli

I have had no sympathy with the late Duke of Monmouth, and yet I come to plead for the life of one who has been implicated in his rebellion.”

From Roger Willoughby A Story of the Times of Benbow by Archibald Webb

In the fight for life between the machine and the human labor, in the race of life for that which men call success, who cares for the life of one little mill hand?

From The Bishop of Cottontown A Story of the Southern Cotton Mills by John Trotwood Moore