criminal of the deepest dye
- idiom
- Archaic
:
criminal de la más baja calaña
- History remembers him as a criminal of the deepest dye, responsible for countless atrocities.
Examples
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The judge described him as a criminal of the deepest dye who showed no remorse.
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She warned that the suspect was a criminal of the deepest dye and a danger to society.
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He is a criminal of the deepest dye!
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Many believe that the criminals of the deepest dye should receive harsher punishments.
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The judge described him as a criminal of the deepest dye who showed no remorse.
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She warned that the suspect was a criminal of the deepest dye and a danger to society.
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History remembers him as a criminal of the deepest dye, responsible for countless atrocities.
Synonyms
15
7.5
A person who does bad things to hurt other people
How Wicked
Surface Forms
Morphology
criminal + of + the + deep + dye
The phrase uses a metaphorical extension of 'deep' (extreme) together with 'dye' (literally a colouring agent) to signal an extreme moral quality; however, the use of 'dye' to mean moral character or degree is archaic and not an obvious compositional meaning for learners who only know the literal senses. Because there is a detectable link (intensification/metaphor) but the exact idiomatic sense is not fully predictable without exposure, it is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
The idiom criminal of the deepest dye may come from the image of cloth soaked in very dark dye; the cloth would be permanently stained, so a criminal 'dyed' in the deepest dye is seen as deeply marked by bad deeds. That's why the phrase means 'extremely immoral or wicked'.