red-hot poker
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of red-hot poker
First recorded in 1885–90; so called from the fiery red blossoms at the end of the flower spike
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“It felt like someone had taken a red-hot poker out of the fire and stuck it through my chest,” Grantham recalled.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 1, 2023
One screen takes us through a field of red-hot poker flowers.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 17, 2020
The film shows the red-hot poker incident as a premonition experienced by the former king, but doesn't state it as fact.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 16, 2012
When the X rays hit the nucleus of an atom, they act something like a red-hot poker thrust into a glass of almost-boiling water.
From Time Magazine Archive
He ran down himself for a rocket as he spoke, and Jerry ran to the cabin for the red-hot poker, which had been heating for some time past in readiness for such an event.
From The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
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.
