get medieval
verbUK /ˌɡɛt ˌmɛd.iˈiː.vəl/ · US /ˌɡɛt mɪdˈi.vəl/
Etymology 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.
- What now? I'll tell you what now. I'm gonna call a couple of hard pipe hittin' niggas 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!1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), Miramax:
- So don't be vain and don't be whiny Or else, my brother, I might have to get medieval on your heinie1996, "Weird Al" Yankovic, “Amish Paradise”, in Bad Hair Day:
3 more examples
- I got medieval on both their asses, packed all the shit I could possibly carry, and caught a cab to my sister's place near 135th and 5th Avenue in Harlem.2001, Zane, “Harlem Blues”, in The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the myth, Strebor Books, →ISBN, page 98:
- “Check it out, god. Remember that night we stayed up all night, that Saturday night when your roommate was out bonin’ LaShonda? I brought the ‘Station up there and got in that ass three or fo’ times. I got medieval on you, muthafucka!”2002, Edwardo Jackson, Ever After, Villard, →ISBN:
- Doesn't it matter that members of the race you idolize were the ones that unleashed hell on your country and got medieval on innocent Japanese women and children not so long ago?2012, Baye McNeil, Hi! My name is Loco and I am a racist, Brooklyn, NY: Hunterfly Road Publishing, →ISBN, page 325:
- Related terms
- go postal, run amok, go ham, on someone's ass