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
Branislava-Serbian, Slovak, Czech, Slovene
MaysonMAY-sənEnglish (Rare)
Sabina[sə'bainə]
Anastazyah-nah-STAH-ziPolish
Lassiter['læsitə]
Antoninaahn-taw-NEE-nah (Polish), ahn-tah-NEE-nah (Russian)Italian, Polish, Russian, Ancient Roman