body and soul
9
4.5
- idiom
- Informal
:
cuerpo y alma
- Into your hands I commend myself, my body and soul.
Examples
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You shall love God with all your heart and mind, body and soul.
Blog text (1) -
A man who devotes himself to this pursuit, body and soul, can scarcely fail to become rich.
Academic text (1993) -
You love the boy body and soul, as he loves you.
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I could love you, body and soul.
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I pledge myself to you, body and soul.
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Just tell me how I can help and I'm with ya, body and soul.
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Ernie was tired, body and soul, but he did what he believed he owed to the troops.
Blog text (10) -
Abronsius had given up all to devote himself body and soul to what was to him a sacred mission.
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And I'm doing all the things that keep body and soul together—dishes, grocery shopping, doctor visits, exercise, laundry.
Blog text (31) -
I pledge myself to you, body and soul.
Synonyms
26
3.3
In a way that shows complete energy and strong commitment
How Committed
1
5.7
57
4.6
- Informal
9
4.5
602
2.4
375
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'body' (the physical aspect) and 'soul' (the immaterial aspect) to denote the whole person, so its sense of complete commitment or entirety is directly inferable from the constituents. This compositional logic is cross-linguistically common (e.g. Spanish 'cuerpo y alma', French 'corps et âme') and therefore a B1 learner who knows the words would likely understand the MWE.
Etymology
The idiom body and soul comes from old religious talk where people spoke of giving both their body, meaning their actions, and their soul, meaning their inner life, to a person or cause. So, it means 'with complete dedication'.