| 释义 |
idiomhave/take/want your pound of flesh(also demand, extract, claim etc your pound of flesh)to say that someone must give you what they owe you, or do something that they ought to do for you even though it will make them suffer a lot:The banks always seem quite happy to take their pound of flesh from customers, even good customers who are only overdrawn by a small amount.The Nationalist party agreed to cooperate fully over this issue and now the government are extracting their pound of flesh in holding them to their promise.NoteThis idiom comes from Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice, in which Shylock demands a pound of flesh from Antonio if he cannot pay the money he owes.
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