get medieval
Appearance
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From get (“to become”) + medieval (“relating to medieval dungeon torture methods”); originally merely collocational when attested in the dialogue of the 1994 film Pulp Fiction, but the collocation took on the function of a phrasal verb, entering the lexicon as a term for torturing severely, after it went viral as a consequence of the film's popularity.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌɡɛt ˌmɛd.iˈiː.vəl/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˌɡɛt mɪdˈi.vəl/
- Hyphenation: get me‧die‧val
Verb
[edit]get medieval (third-person singular simple present gets medieval, present participle getting medieval, simple past got medieval, past participle gotten medieval or got medieval)
- (intransitive, chiefly US, informal) To become sadistically torturous, especially due to vengeful spite.
- 1990-1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), Miramax, published 1994:
- What now? I'll tell you what now. I'm gonna call a couple of hard pipe hittin' n-ggas to go to work on the homes here with a pair of pliers and a blow-torch. You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy?! I ain't through with you by a damn sight! I'ma get medieval on your ass!
See also
[edit]- (sharing a semantic theme of going nuts violently)
- on someone's ass