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
“Better way than doing it with a red-hot poker, as some of us might like to stand back till the guns are proved,” said the old soldier, grimly.
From The Young Castellan A Tale of the English Civil War by Fenn, George Manville
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.
