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Glite Dictionary
to pay one's pound of flesh

to pay one's pound of flesh

9.9
Suffer a heavy cost to meet an unfair demand
  • idiom
  • Literature
translation icon : pagar un alto precio
  • After months of overtime, she felt she had paid her pound of flesh at the new job.

Examples

  • Despite his success, he knew he had paid his pound of flesh in stress and lost time.

  • You must pay your pound of flesh for that mistake!

  • Sometimes, it seems every promotion comes only after you've paid your pound of flesh.

  • She had to pay her pound of flesh after the incident.

  • He finally received a promotion, but he had to pay his pound of flesh with long hours and weekend work.

  • The project was rewarding, but the team had to pay their pound of flesh by sacrificing their personal time.

  • She had to pay her pound of flesh for taking that risk, dealing with the consequences for months.

Synonyms

to pay
vsto pay one's pound of flesh
∞ 4.1

To suffer bad results because of your actions

focuses on fulfilling a harsh demand or penalty rather than simple retribution
to pay dearly
vsto pay one's pound of flesh
  • Informal
12 5.8

To suffer serious harm or loss because of an action

is about meeting a harsh demand or sacrifice rather than just suffering consequences
to pay the piper
vsto pay one's pound of flesh
  • Informal
9 7.7

Accept the bad result of something you did

stresses meeting an imposed severe demand or sacrifice not just facing outcomes

Antonyms

escape
77 1.1

An act of avoiding harm or a dangerous situation

How Harsh

punishingly
1 7.9
to pay one's pound of flesh
  • Literature
9.9
to pay dearly
  • Informal
12 5.8
to pay
∞ 4.1

Surface Forms

pay one's pound of flesh infinitive
paid one's pound of flesh past
paid one's pound of flesh past participle
paying one's pound of flesh present participle
pays one's pound of flesh third person singular

Morphology

pay + one + pound + of + flesh

A B1 learner who knows the words 'pay', 'pound' and 'flesh' would read this literally as paying a unit of body tissue, which is nonsensical; the idiomatic sense of exacting a harsh or unreasonable penalty comes from a literary/cultural metaphor (Shakespeare) and cannot be deduced from the constituents. Because the meaning is culturally specific and metaphorical rather than compositionally predictable, this expression is opaque to learners.

Etymology

The idiom pay one's pound of flesh comes from Shakespeare's play 'The Merchant of Venice', where a man who lent money insisted on taking a real pound of his debtor's flesh as payment. That shocking image explains why the phrase now means 'to be forced to meet a very harsh or unfair demand'.