the black ox has trod on [someone’s] foot Said of a person who has been the victim of misfortune or adversity. This proverb, in use since 1546, is rarely heard today.

blood, sweat and tears See EXERTION.

cross to bear See BURDEN.

crown of thorns Any excruciatingly painful hardship, tribulation, trial, suffering, etc.; a grievous and enduring wound. This expression refers to the crown which soldiers mockingly placed on Jesus’ head before his crucifixion.

get one’s lumps To be harshly treated or abused; to be punished, chastised, or criticized; to be physically beaten or harassed. In this expression a lump is literally a swelling on the body caused by physical violence.

This 20th-century American slang expression is frequently used to describe nonphysical abuse and punishment or unpleasant, painful experiences.

lead a dog’s life To live a miserable, servile life; to lead a wretched, harassed existence. This expression, which dates from the 16th century, apparently refers to the abuses heaped on the less fortunate of man’s best friends.

the most unkindest cut of all The cruelest of cruel treatment; the last and most painful of a series of hurts; used especially in reference to betrayal by a friend. The cut of the original expression referred to one of the rents in Julius Caesar’s mantle, specifically that made by his dearest friend Brutus. The line is from Marc Antony’s famous oration over the dead Caesar’s body.

Today the phrase is most often found in contexts where cut means ‘slight, snub, insult,’ though the idea that the hurt involves a friend’s rejection is usually retained. Other uses play on other meanings of cut, such as deletions from a manuscript or bowdlerization of a text.

run the gauntlet To be subjected to attack from all sides; to be made to endure abusive treatment or severe criticism. Running the gauntlet was a form of military punishment in which the offender was compelled to run between two rows of men armed with whips or scourges, each of whom struck him a painful blow. The gauntlet (or gantlet) of the expression bears no relationship to gauntlet ‘mailed glove’ but is a corruption of gantlope, from the Swedish gatlopp ‘a running lane.’ The literal expression came into English during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) and the phrase was used figuratively shortly thereafter.

slings and arrows See CRITICISM.

through the mill Through much suffering, through many hardships and difficulties, through an ordeal or trial. The allusion is to the way a mill grinds whole grains of wheat into fine flour.

Use of the expression dates from the 19th century.

through the wringer Through an emotionally or physically exhausting experience.

A wringer is an apparatus for squeezing out excess water or liquid, as from clothes after washing.