if looks could kill in English

Audio: en-au-if looks could kill.ogg

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Etymology: In aphorism 64, section 2 of Friedrich Nietzsche's 1878 book Human, All Too Human, Nietzsche writes that "If looks could kill, we would long ago have been done for." In chapter 16 of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula in a diary entry of Dr. Seward, he notes about the undead Lucy Westenra that "If ever a face meant death--if looks could kill--we saw it at that moment." An ellipsis (anapodoton) for an expression such as "If looks could kill, her look would have led to the death of the person she was looking at." A possible origin of the phrase comes from the legend of Medusa, who had the power to turn anyone who looked at her into stone. Head templates: {{head|en|phrase}} if looks could kill

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{
  "etymology_text": "In aphorism 64, section 2 of Friedrich Nietzsche's 1878 book Human, All Too Human, Nietzsche writes that \"If looks could kill, we would long ago have been done for.\"\nIn chapter 16 of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula in a diary entry of Dr. Seward, he notes about the undead Lucy Westenra that \"If ever a face meant death--if looks could kill--we saw it at that moment.\"\nAn ellipsis (anapodoton) for an expression such as \"If looks could kill, her look would have led to the death of the person she was looking at.\"\nA possible origin of the phrase comes from the legend of Medusa, who had the power to turn anyone who looked at her into stone.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "if looks could kill",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English subordinate clauses",
          "parents": [],
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to characterize a look of strong hostility"
      ],
      "id": "en-if_looks_could_kill-en-phrase-N8kO2z1e",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, anapodoton) Used to characterize a look of strong hostility"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
          "word": "如果眼神可以杀人"
        },
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
          "word": "kdyby pohled mohl zabíjet"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
          "word": "als blikken konden doden"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
          "word": "jos katse voisi tappaa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
          "word": "si on pouvait tuer d’un simple regard"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
          "word": "wenn Blicke töten könnten"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "mita me de hito ga koroseru no nara",
          "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
          "word": "見た目で人が殺せるのなら"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
          "word": "gdyby wzrok mógł zabijać"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
          "word": "se o/um olhar matasse"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "jésli by vzgljádom móžno býlo ubítʹ",
          "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
          "word": "е́сли бы взгля́дом мо́жно бы́ло уби́ть"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
          "word": "si la mirada matara"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-if looks could kill.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/26/En-au-if_looks_could_kill.ogg/En-au-if_looks_could_kill.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/En-au-if_looks_could_kill.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "if looks could kill"
}

[Show JSON for raw wiktextract data ▼] [Hide JSON for raw wiktextract data ▲]

{
  "etymology_text": "In aphorism 64, section 2 of Friedrich Nietzsche's 1878 book Human, All Too Human, Nietzsche writes that \"If looks could kill, we would long ago have been done for.\"\nIn chapter 16 of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula in a diary entry of Dr. Seward, he notes about the undead Lucy Westenra that \"If ever a face meant death--if looks could kill--we saw it at that moment.\"\nAn ellipsis (anapodoton) for an expression such as \"If looks could kill, her look would have led to the death of the person she was looking at.\"\nA possible origin of the phrase comes from the legend of Medusa, who had the power to turn anyone who looked at her into stone.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "if looks could kill",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English ellipses",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrases",
        "English subordinate clauses",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to characterize a look of strong hostility"
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, anapodoton) Used to characterize a look of strong hostility"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-if looks could kill.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/26/En-au-if_looks_could_kill.ogg/En-au-if_looks_could_kill.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/En-au-if_looks_could_kill.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
      "word": "如果眼神可以杀人"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
      "word": "kdyby pohled mohl zabíjet"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
      "word": "als blikken konden doden"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
      "word": "jos katse voisi tappaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
      "word": "si on pouvait tuer d’un simple regard"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
      "word": "wenn Blicke töten könnten"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "mita me de hito ga koroseru no nara",
      "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
      "word": "見た目で人が殺せるのなら"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
      "word": "gdyby wzrok mógł zabijać"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
      "word": "se o/um olhar matasse"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "jésli by vzgljádom móžno býlo ubítʹ",
      "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
      "word": "е́сли бы взгля́дом мо́жно бы́ло уби́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "used to characterize a look of strong hostility",
      "word": "si la mirada matara"
    }
  ],
  "word": "if looks could kill"
}

[Show JSON error data ▼] [Hide JSON error data ▲]

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
  "msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: idiomatic, anapodoton",
  "path": [
    "if looks could kill"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "phrase",
  "title": "if looks could kill",
  "trace": ""
}

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
  "msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: idiomatic, anapodoton",
  "path": [
    "if looks could kill"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "phrase",
  "title": "if looks could kill",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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.

"if looks could kill" meaning in English

Phrase