to save one's life



to save one's life

Even if one's life depended on it, as in I couldn't eat another bite to save my life, or Betty wouldn't climb a mountain to save her life. This hyperbolic expression nearly always follows a negative statement that one wouldn't or couldn't do something. Anthony Trollope used a slightly different wording in The Kellys and the O'Kellys (1848): "I shan't remain long, if it was to save my life and theirs; I can't get up small talk for the rector and his curate."
See also: life, save

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Iucunda-Late Roman
Darina (2)-Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian
Marylamah-RI-lahPolish
Sang-Hunsahng-hoonKorean
Atanasija-Serbian, Macedonian
Nikandros-Ancient Greek