The Price of Victory. Blood, Sweat, Tears. Sweat—Our Contribution (Wikimedia Commons)

Continuing Glossophilia’s 10-part series on bodily expressions.

We’ve gathered all the phrases and expressions we can possibly think of that make use of bodily parts in all their glory — and divided them into ten broad categories* descending from head to toe (and then some …). We’ve left out one- and two-word euphemistic adjectives and tried to avoid expressions that refer too literally to our actual limbs, organs or orifices; what follows are phrases that tend towards the metaphorical and poetic, even though some can also be taken more literally.

Here we have phrases using blood, sweat and tears, skin and bone, nerves, veins and sinews — the more visceral matter and machinery of our very beings. Up next, our grand Hallowe’en finale: where skeletons and bodies (dead or alive) take their place in our daily idioms… Continue reading →