sweat out of
sweat (something) out of (one)
1. To cause one to sweat and thus expel a harmful substance from one's body. I'm going for a run to sweat some of that alcohol out of me. You should spend some time in the sauna. It's a great way to sweat toxins out of your body. The point of the fever isn't to sweat the illness out of you, but rather to help your immune system work more efficiently.
2. To extract something, such as information or a confession, from one through the use of force, intimidation, or coercion. The man's sentence was overturned after it came to light that police had used physical force to sweat a confession out of him. The detectives managed to sweat the location of the kidnapped girl out of the gang member.
See also: of, out, sweat
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
sweat something out of someone
and sweat something out1. Lit. to apply enough heat to cause someone to sweat, with the goal of removing bodily poisons or the cause of a disease. They used the ancient treatment of sweating the disease out of me. It worked! They used steam to sweat out the flu.
2. Fig. to force someone to reveal information under pressure. The cops couldn't sweat the information out of Max. They couldn't sweat out the information.
See also: of, out, sweat
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
- sweat (something) out of (one)
- sweat something out
- sweat like a pig
- Don’t sweat it!
- don't sweat it
- sweat buckets
- sweat off
- make (one) sweat
- sweat the small stuff
- by the sweat of one's brow