not on your life
Meaning: Absolutely not.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “"Will you hold the snake?" "Not on your life."”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: An emphatic refusal, as if even the other person's life could not buy agreement. It is recorded from the 19th century.
Equivalents in other languages
- Spanish: ni a tiros — literally: not even by gunshots
More idioms — Daily Life
- make a clean break — To end something completely rather than gradually.
- a bit on the side — A secret lover; an affair.
- look out for number one — To put one's own interests first.
- with only the clothes on one's back — With no possessions at all.
- well, I never! — An exclamation of surprise or disbelief.
- luck out — To have unexpected good luck.
More English idioms
- tread carefully — To act with great caution in a delicate situation.
- pull the other one — Said to someone telling an obvious lie.
- use someone as a cat's paw — To get someone else to do one's dirty work.
- lose one's marbles — To go crazy.
- the heart of the matter — The most important part of an issue.
- put in one's two cents — To give one's opinion, whether or not it was asked for.