home thrust

English

Noun

home thrust (plural home thrusts)

1. A well-directed or effective thrust; one that wounds in a vital part.
2. (figurative) A personal attack.
   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island:

     “I make it a point of honour not to lose a man for King George (God bless him!) and the gallows.”
     The rogues looked at each other but swallowed the home-thrust in silence.

References

• “home thrust”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• home truths