What is the origin and meaning of hold your feet to the fire?

The idiom hold someone’s feet to the fire is derived from the trial by ordeal used by the Inquisition during Medieval times. Quite literally, one’s feet were held to a fire or one was forced to walk barefoot over hot coals in order to extract a confession of wrongdoing. What is a sentence with the idiom hold your feet to the fire?
To put pressure on one to do, say, or consent to something. The journalist has spent the last year holding the prime minister’s feet to the fire in relation to her campaign promises about wealth distribution. People have been holding her feet to the fire to take the images down from the website.

What is trial fire?

A test of one’s abilities to perform well under pressure, as in Finishing this buge list of chores in time for the wedding is really a trial by fire. This expression alludes to the medieval practice of determining a person’s guilt by having them undergo an ordeal, such as walking barefoot through a fire. When the cat’s away the mice will play idiom meaning?
said to mean that people do what they want, or misbehave when their boss or another person in authority is away. While the bosses are out of the room, the workers watch the game – a case of while the cat’s away the mice will play. Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary.

What is the meaning of cream of the crop?

individuals carefully selected as being the best of a class. He was certain that the judges would recognize his show rabbit as the cream of the crop. What is the meaning of word averred?

verb avers, averring or averred (tr) to state positively; assert. law to allege as a fact or prove to be true.

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ)

What does the expression in your face mean?

: characterized by or expressive of bold and often defiant aggressiveness in-your-face basketball also : aggressively intrusive in-your-face advertising.

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What is the meaning of as sharp as a tack?

Mentally acute. For example, She’s very witty—she’s sharp as a tack. These similes are also used literally to mean “having a keen cutting edge” and have largely replaced the earlier sharp as a needle or thorn. The first dates from about 1900, the variant from the mid-1800s.

What is hang fire slang?

delay If you hang fire, you delay making a decision about something.

Is Hold your fire an idiom?

hold one’s fire Refrain from comment or criticism, especially for the time being. For example, Hold your fire, Jim, she’s not finished yet, or Nancy decided to hold her fire until she had more information. This expression alludes to refraining from shooting a gun and originated in the military.

What does take up the gauntlet mean?

Who set the fire in trial by fire?

Willingham Cameron escaped the home with minor burns, while his wife and mother to the three girls, Stacy Kuykendall, was out shopping for Christmas presents. Prosecutors alleged that Willingham set the fire and killed the children intentionally in an attempt to cover up his abuse of the girls.

What does the expression baptism by fire mean?

Baptism by fire is a phrase commonly used to describe a person or employee who is learning something the hard way through a challenge or difficulty. In many cases, someone who starts a new job must undergo a baptism by fire, meaning they must immediately deal with one or more difficult situations.

Where does the phrase trial by fire come from?

Trial by Fire was coined during the Salem Witch Trials. The Puritan judges believed that God would not allow a pure soul burn, so they would burn the accused witches at the stake – if they went up in flames they were considered to be witches – if they did not… well, they were set free. It was a Trial by Fire.

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What is the meaning of once bitten twice shy?

—used to mean that a person who has failed or been hurt when trying to do something is careful or fearful about doing it again.

What is the meaning of dot your i’s and cross your t’s?

Be meticulous and precise, fill in all the particulars, as in Laura had dotted all the i’s and crossed the t’s, so she wondered what she’d done wrong. This expression presumably began as an admonition to schoolchildren to write carefully and is sometimes shortened.

What is the meaning of saying look before you leap?

look before you leap. Think of the consequences before you act, as in You’d better check out all the costs before you buy a cellular phone—look before you leap. This expression alludes to Aesop’s fable about the fox who is unable to climb out of a well and persuades a goat to jump in.

What does cherry on top mean?

(also the cherry on (top of) the sundae, the cherry on top) something that makes something that is already good even better, or perfect: For his career, the Olympic Games would be the cherry on the cake. He put the cherry on top of the cake by scoring for the third time.

What does blue in the face mean?

Exhausted from anger, strain, or other great effort. For example, You can argue until you’re blue in the face, but I refuse to go. This expression alludes to the bluish skin color resulting from lack of oxygen, which presumably might result from talking until one was breathless. See also under talk one’s arm off.

What is the meaning of smart cookie?

a clever person who has good ideas. As soon as movie film had been invented, around 1890, smart cookies started thinking about how to accompany pictures with sound.

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What is avee?

Electronegativity (EN) has been redefined as the average valence electron energy (AVEE) that takes into account all of the s and p electrons in the valence shell for main group elements. … EN and AVEE can be used interchangeably, directly relating the parameter to the periodicity of the elements.

What does aver mean in texting?

affirm aver / avow To aver is to affirm and to avow is to openly declare. There’s some overlap with these words because when people want to aver something — state a truth — they probably also want to avow it — say it publicly. Continue reading…

What do you mean by inter alia?

among other things Inter alia is a Latin phrase that means among other things. So your grocery list may include bread, milk, and cereal, inter alia.

What does egg on your face mean?

To look foolish Meaning: To look foolish or be embarrassed. Example: Terry had egg on his face after boasting that the examinations were really easy, but ended up failing most of his papers.

What does it mean to see eye to eye with someone?

to have or come to the same opinion or point of view. The two did not see eye to eye on on certain political issues.

What is the meaning of caved in?

1 to fall down or in as a result of physical pressure. the wall caved in when a tree fell on it.

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