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body blow
[ bod-ee bloh ]
noun
- Boxing. a blow driven to the opponent's body between the breastbone and the navel.
- any action that causes severe damage, losses, etc.:
Our business received a body blow in the recession.
body blow
noun
- Also calledbody punch boxing a blow to the body of an opponent
- a severe disappointment or setback
unavailability of funds was a body blow to the project
Word History and Origins
Origin of body blow1
Idioms and Phrases
An action that causes severe damage, as in This last recession dealt a body blow to our whole industry . This term comes from boxing, where since the 18th century it has been used to refer to a punch that is landing between the opponent's chest and navel. [c. 1900]Example Sentences
For many Latin America watchers, the fall of this entrepreneurial wunderkind was a body blow to Brazil itself.
The Saudis hope the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad will deal a body blow to Iran and Hezbollah.
If Israel is willing to think outside the box, it can deal Bashar al-Assad, Iran, and Hizbullah a body blow without firing a shot.
Every month, it seemed as if News International was being hit by a fresh body-blow.
Then they threatened to review the billion-dollar U.S. aid package to Egypt, a real body blow to Mubarak and the military.
This in his own paper over his own signature was a body blow; but it had the effect of curing his cold.
Frank avoided the rush by stepping aside, and gave the fellow another body blow as he passed.
Frank was watching for that left hand body blow, and it came at last, just when Bascomb thought it must count.
He pursued his man with savage determination, and seemed resolved to get in a deadly body-blow that would end the fight.
Suspicion was pounding at him like a body blow that is repeated accurately and relentlessly in the same vulnerable spot.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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