"to save one's life" meaning in All languages combined

See to save one's life on Wiktionary

Phrase [English]

Head templates: {{head|en|phrase}} to save one's life
  1. (informal) at all (Used with "can't", "couldn't" etc. to emphasize a lack of skill.) Tags: informal Synonyms: for the life of one, even if one's life depended on it, for toffee
    Sense id: en-to_save_one's_life-en-phrase-W4esyUxf Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English negative polarity items, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 55 45 Disambiguation of English negative polarity items: 56 44 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 54 46 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 54 46
  2. (informal, hyperbolic) under any circumstances; [I'd] rather die than...(Used with "will not", "would not" etc. to emphasize refusal.) Tags: excessive, informal
    Sense id: en-to_save_one's_life-en-phrase-11hJk1Je Categories (other): English hyperboles, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 55 45 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 54 46 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 54 46
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: for dear life
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I can't dance to save my life.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1902 September 7, George Ade, “Modern Fables By George Ade. The Modern Fable of the Troubles of the Unemployed and the Danger of Changing from Bill to Harold.”, in Idaho Daily Statesman, Boise, Ida., page 16, column 5:",
          "text": "After she began to have a Governoress for Stuyvesant Jimpson and an Imported Nurse for the little Evelyn Jimpson her memory began to blur in spots and she couldn’t have done up the Dishes to save her life.",
          "type": "quote"
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        "at all (Used with \"can't\", \"couldn't\" etc. to emphasize a lack of skill.)"
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          "at all"
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        "(informal) at all (Used with \"can't\", \"couldn't\" etc. to emphasize a lack of skill.)"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "for the life of one"
        },
        {
          "word": "even if one's life depended on it"
        },
        {
          "word": "for toffee"
        }
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        {
          "text": "She wouldn't eat baked beans to save her life.",
          "type": "example"
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        "under any circumstances; [I'd] rather die than...(Used with \"will not\", \"would not\" etc. to emphasize refusal.)"
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          "text": "I can't dance to save my life.",
          "type": "example"
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        {
          "ref": "1902 September 7, George Ade, “Modern Fables By George Ade. The Modern Fable of the Troubles of the Unemployed and the Danger of Changing from Bill to Harold.”, in Idaho Daily Statesman, Boise, Ida., page 16, column 5:",
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        "(informal) at all (Used with \"can't\", \"couldn't\" etc. to emphasize a lack of skill.)"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "for the life of one"
        },
        {
          "word": "even if one's life depended on it"
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        {
          "word": "for toffee"
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        "under any circumstances; [I'd] rather die than...(Used with \"will not\", \"would not\" etc. to emphasize refusal.)"
      ],
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        "(informal, hyperbolic) under any circumstances; [I'd] rather die than...(Used with \"will not\", \"would not\" etc. to emphasize refusal.)"
      ],
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        "excessive",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
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  "word": "to save one's life"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.