kill or cure

Idioms  

1. Either remedy a disease or kill the patient, as in The copy chief did not like her headline for the drug, “Kill or Cure.” This expression dates from the mid-1700s, when it was already being used half-jokingly.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

kill or cure

Now, a local industry that has long operated in a near legal vacuum is facing an onslaught of legislative and regulatory initiatives that could amount to a "kill or cure" treatment.

From Reuters ● Oct. 4, 2011

Television was promising either to kill or cure the sports world.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is either going to kill or cure me.

From Time Magazine Archive

What is to be thought of the use of such remedies as will either kill or cure?

From Moral Principles and Medical Practice The Basis of Medical Jurisprudence by Coppens, Charles

Even those who supplied that information had firm faith in his supernatural power to kill or cure, and believed with equal ardour in the charms which he taught them to make and use.

From The Witch-cult in Western Europe A Study in Anthropology by Murray, Margaret Alice