haul over the coals
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Explain these phrases: "to be in hot water;" "to go through fire and water;" and "to haul over the coals."
From Early European History by Webster, Hutton
Another way of performing the fire ordeal was by running through the flame of two fires built close together, or by walking over live brands; hence the phrase "to haul over the coals."
From General History for Colleges and High Schools by Myers, Philip Van Ness
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
