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Origin documented
“A pound of flesh”
What it means
A debt exacted to the letter, however cruelly.
Where it comes from
Shakespeare gives Shylock a bond specified precisely by weight, and Portia defeats it on precision: the bond permits flesh but not blood, and no more nor less than exactly a pound.
How sure are we?
From The Merchant of Venice, around 1598. The dramatic force depends entirely on the audience understanding that a weight, once specified, is not negotiable.