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
Laotians believe their race sprang from a supernatural pumpkin that an envoy of the King of Heaven split open with a red-hot poker.
From Time Magazine Archive
And here, in 1718, De Hightrehight, the fire-eater, ate burning coals, swallowed flaming brimstone, and sucked a red-hot poker, five times a day!
From Old and New London Volume I by Thornbury, Walter
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.
