pound of flesh
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Demanding something strictly according to an agreement
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
đòi hỏi một điều gì đó nghiêm ngặt theo thỏa thuận
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a pound of human flesh
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The creditor wanted a pound of flesh, refusing any payment less than the full amount.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “pound of flesh” mean?
Demanding something strictly according to an agreement Literally: a pound of human flesh
Is “pound of flesh” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.