out-Herod Herod

To be excessively cruel or tyrannical. Herod was the King of Judea who according to the Bible ordered the deaths of all male babies in an attempt to kill Jesus. That dictator could out-Herod Herod with his fits of violence.

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

out-Herod Herod

behave with extreme cruelty or tyranny.

Herod, the ruler of Judaea at the time of Jesus's birth and the man responsible for ordering the massacre of boy babies in his realm, was portrayed in medieval miracle plays as a blustering tyrant. The phrase is from Shakespeare's Hamlet : ‘I would have such a fellow whipp'd for o'erdoing Termagant; it out-herods Herod’.

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

See also:

Bible
Bible-basher
Bible-thumper
basher
thumper
drag on
drag on (someone or something)
sic semper tyrannis
be much of a muchness
rule with an iron hand/rod, to

References in classic literature

Noah's wife, for example, came regularly to be presented as a shrew, who would not enter the ark until she had been beaten into submission; and Herod always appears as a blustering tyrant, whose fame still survives in a proverb of Shakspere's coinage--'to out-Herod Herod.'

A History of English Literature

When first he joined us and saw our mark upon the foreheads of our dead, wishing to out-Herod Herod, he marked the living which fell into his hands with a red hot iron, branding a great P upon each cheek and burning out the right eye completely.

The Outlaw of Torn

Draper noted that the supposedly choleric Petruchio's strategy for subduing the equally volatile Katherine "is to out-Herod Herod." (1) Though Draper doubtless intended his remark to be no more than metaphorical, I propose to take it literally.

Given the volume that the speech demands of the player, John Draper may have been far closer to the mark than he realized in claiming that Petruchio's "method is to out-Herod Herod." But this is no simple, uncritical reproduction of cycle-drama loudness.

"Look not big, nor stamp, nor stare": Acting Up in The Taming of the Shrew and the Coventry Herod Plays

词组	out-Herod Herod
释义	out-Herod Herod out-Herod Herod To be excessively cruel or tyrannical. Herod was the King of Judea who according to the Bible ordered the deaths of all male babies in an attempt to kill Jesus. That dictator could out-Herod Herod with his fits of violence. Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. out-Herod Herod behave with extreme cruelty or tyranny. Herod, the ruler of Judaea at the time of Jesus's birth and the man responsible for ordering the massacre of boy babies in his realm, was portrayed in medieval miracle plays as a blustering tyrant. The phrase is from Shakespeare's Hamlet : ‘I would have such a fellow whipp'd for o'erdoing Termagant; it out-herods Herod’. Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary See also: Bible Bible-basher Bible-thumper basher thumper drag on drag on (someone or something) sic semper tyrannis be much of a muchness rule with an iron hand/rod, to References in classic literature Noah's wife, for example, came regularly to be presented as a shrew, who would not enter the ark until she had been beaten into submission; and Herod always appears as a blustering tyrant, whose fame still survives in a proverb of Shakspere's coinage--'to out-Herod Herod.' A History of English Literature When first he joined us and saw our mark upon the foreheads of our dead, wishing to out-Herod Herod, he marked the living which fell into his hands with a red hot iron, branding a great P upon each cheek and burning out the right eye completely. The Outlaw of Torn Draper noted that the supposedly choleric Petruchio's strategy for subduing the equally volatile Katherine "is to out-Herod Herod." (1) Though Draper doubtless intended his remark to be no more than metaphorical, I propose to take it literally. Given the volume that the speech demands of the player, John Draper may have been far closer to the mark than he realized in claiming that Petruchio's "method is to out-Herod Herod." But this is no simple, uncritical reproduction of cycle-drama loudness. "Look not big, nor stamp, nor stare": Acting Up in The Taming of the Shrew and the Coventry Herod Plays
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