Synonyms

skin alive

Idioms

Punish severely, as in If I find the guy who slashed my tire I'll skin him alive. This hyperbolic expression transfers the barbaric practice of flaying a live prisoner to other forms of punishment. [Colloquial mid-1800s]

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.

I give thee, Bird, advice; If thou wouldst save thy skin alive, Let me not warn thee twice, "Grack-grack-grack-grack-grack-grack— Go on and ne'er look back!"

From A Tree with a Bird in it: a symposium of contemporary american poets on being shown a pear-tree on which sat a grackle by Widdemer, Margaret

It was difficult to trace what it was; something all in a heap, brown naked skin; alive, as might be known by the heaving breathing.

From Fanny, the Flower-Girl, or, Honesty Rewarded by Bunbury, Selina

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

skin alive

Example Sentences

Related Words