pound of flesh
Merciless repayment demand
A pound of flesh is a debt or obligation pursued with merciless exactitude, especially when collecting it would cause disproportionate harm.
The phrase comes from Shakespeare's *The Merchant of Venice*, where Shylock demands literal flesh as payment for a defaulted loan.
Now used for anyone insisting on strict terms regardless of consequences: The bank wanted its pound of flesh even after the business collapsed.
- debtMoney owed another
- forfeitLose through violation
- settle the scoreRepay a grievance
- contractEnforceable written agreement
- knifeSharp cutting utensil
Shylock · cut · exaction · pain · usury · blood money · Antonio · skin · bond · predatory lending · blood · legal loophole · Shakespeare · Venice · literalism · loan shark · scales · vengeance
- Shakespeare phrasesto be or not to be, et tu Brute, all the world's a stage, out damned spot, friends Romans countrymen
- measurement idiomsinch by inch, give an inch, whole nine yards, by a mile, go the extra mile
- AllusionsAchilles heel, Pandora's box, Trojan horse, forbidden fruit, Midas touch
- literary idiomscatch-22, red herring, white whale, chapter and verse, by the book
- Literary Phrasesto be or not to be, carpe diem, et tu Brute, call me Ishmael, once upon a time
- ShakespeareRomeo, Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello
pound of fleshmercy
Compassion toward offenders
clemency · forgiveness · compassion · leniency · grace
pound of fleshdebt forgiveness
Cancellation of amounts owed
amnesty · pardon · write-off · absolution · clean slate
pound, flesh, pounding, pounded, pounds, fleshy, impound, fleshing, fleshed