to save (one's) life
to save (one's) life
Regardless of one's effort, passion, or desire. Used after a negative verb construction to emphasize one's inability to do it. Ugh, this art assignment is so annoying—I can't draw an apple to save my life. Rachel is so selfish! It's like she couldn't consider another person's feelings to save her life.
See also: life, save
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
to save one's life
Even if one's life depended on it, as in I couldn't eat another bite to save my life, or Betty wouldn't climb a mountain to save her life. This hyperbolic expression nearly always follows a negative statement that one wouldn't or couldn't do something. Anthony Trollope used a slightly different wording in The Kellys and the O'Kellys (1848): "I shan't remain long, if it was to save my life and theirs; I can't get up small talk for the rector and his curate."
See also: life, save
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
to save your life
used in various expressions, especially can't (or couldn't ) do something to save your life , to indicate that the person in question is very incompetent at doing something.The first recorded use of this expression is by Anthony Trollope in The Kellys and O'Kellys ( 1848 ): ‘If it was to save my life and theirs, I can't get up small talk for the rector and his curate’.
See also: life, save
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
to save (one's) life
No matter how hard one tries: He can't ski to save his life.
See also: life, save
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
- better (to be) safe than sorry
- better safe than sorry
- at (one's) doorstep
- at doorstep
- at expense
- at somebody's expense
- at someone's expense
- at (one's) expense
- be remembered as (something)
- be remembered as/for something