Dictionary

drive a stake through its heart en · VERB

Etymology

Refers to a common way of killing vampires in fiction.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) get rid of, destroy permanently or stop talking about
   • We hear great debate about how this is a bad treaty and we should defeat it and drive a stake through its heart, but what, then, should we do? 2000, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations, Final Review of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (Treaty Doc. 105-28): Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, First Session, October 7, 1999, Volume 4, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 28:
   • The Chandlers also were interested in retaining the family fortune, not squandering it, and the Mirror-News was losing $2 million a year. If, the Chandlers thought, they could kill the Mirror-News and drive a stake through its heart, they would be much better off. 1984, Peter Benjaminson, Death in the Afternoon: America's Newspaper Giants Struggle for Survival, Andrews, McMeel & Parker, →ISBN:
   • We can't tinker with this tax code monstrosity or try to reform around the edges. The only thing we can do with this hideous beast is kill it, drive a stake through its heart, bury it, and hope that it never rises again to terrorize the American people. 2011, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means, Impediments to Job Creation: Hearing Before the Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, First Session, March 30, 2011, U.S. Government Printing Office, →ISBN, page 116:
   • "You can't reform ODOT," he says wearily, "you can only drive a stake through its heart." 1999, Fred Siegel, Urban Society, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, →ISBN, page 125:

Forms