risk life and limb

Idioms  

1. Also, risk one's neck. Take dangerous chances, as in There he was on the roof, risking life and limb to rescue the kitten, or I don't want to risk my neck contradicting him. The first hyperbolic expression, dating from the early 1600s, doesn't make sense, since if one loses one's life one also loses the use of one's limbs. The variant, used for risky undertakings of all kinds, physical and nonphysical, presumably alludes to being hanged or beheaded. Also see stick one's neck out.

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Example Sentences

To convert the CG-animated “How to Train Your Dragon” to live action, all filmmakers had to do was risk life and limb in helicopters and find, you know, dragons.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2025

“As temperatures remain dangerously low all along the border, no one should put their lives in the hands of smugglers, or risk life and limb attempting to cross only to be returned,” officials warned.

From Washington Times • Dec. 24, 2022

But it was not so exceptional that I would risk life and limb for it.

From Washington Post • Oct. 19, 2022

They’ve never in their lives participated in a free and fair election, but they’re willing to risk life and limb and livelihood for even the chance to try to build a democracy.

From Slate • Aug. 26, 2020

Here was somebody who had brought the art of skulduggery to the highest point of perfection, somebody, moreover, who was willing to risk life and limb in pursuit of her calling.

From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl