bleed (someone or something) dry

(redirected from bleed us dry)

bleed (someone or something) dry

To take all of the resources that another person or thing has available. This phrase is often applied to money. Paying for my kids' education is just bleeding me dry. I hope I'll still be able to retire one day! Overhead costs are bleeding our business dry. We need to come up with a different way of doing things.
See also: bleed, dry
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

bleed someone dry

or

bleed someone white

COMMON If someone or something bleeds, a person, organization, or country dry or bleeds them white, they take all of their money or resources from them. The first two interest payments had bled him dry. His realm had been bled dry by years of war with France. Note: In the past, doctors often treated patients by bleeding them, which involved removing some of their blood.
See also: bleed, dry, someone
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

bleed someone dry (or white)

drain someone of all their money or resources.
Since the late 17th century bleeding has been a metaphor for extorting money from someone. White refers to the physiological effect of losing blood.
1982 William Haggard The Mischief-Makers Her husband had been a wealthy man, the lady's solicitors sharp and ruthless, and her husband had been bled white to get rid of her.
See also: bleed, dry, someone
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

bleed somebody ˈdry/ˈwhite

(disapproving) take away all somebody’s money: He used to be quite wealthy, but his children have bled him dry.
See also: bleed, dry, somebody, white
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

bleed someone dry

verb
See bleed someone white
See also: bleed, dry, someone
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive ?
Mr Walford said: "The resident parking scheme was introduced to protect us from people parking on our estate when either visiting or working at the hospital, not bleed us dry.
Man says he got three fines for parking outside his home
For the Don't Knows and doubters in this referendum who cannot make their minds up which way to Vote IN or OUT, it will be too late to change anything afterwards, the UK will be locked up forever in European legislation that will bleed us dry.
Seize chance on EU referendum [...]; LETTERS
And with a price tag of just over PS57 for six cocktails, three mains and a shared dessert it definitely didn't bleed us dry of our Bank Holiday spends for the night out.
Top spot for a mate date
Sold-off power firms now in foreign hands bleed us dry.
Poisonous Cam is true heir to Mrs T
This is a disgrace, that the future of our young people be cast aside by the greed of banks and corporations and that the nation be held to ransom by a public school elite who will bleed us dry for their own profit if we would but let them.
Workhouse mentality; Mailbag letters also appear online at www.examiner.co.uk/views-and-blogs/reader-letters
Eddy Weatherill of the Independent Banking Advisory Service said: "The banks are continuing to bleed us dry both as customers and taxpayers."
INTEREST SOARS ON CREDIT CARDS
THIS recessionary pressure is taking place against a background of rising commercial and regulatory costs and while we are prepared to meet our social responsibility obligations, regulation cannot be allowed to be used as a lever against us to try and bleed us dry.
'Our priority is to keep betting shops open, protect betting shop jobs and preserve our customer base' Patrick Nixon the new chief executive of the AAB sets out his agenda
Obviously you are a Conservative follower because if you weren't you would open your eyes to the fact that it is every politician in the land - Conservatives as well - who bleed us dry. All politicians should be made to fund their own second homes out of the huge fat cat wages they all get.
All parties are guilty; You Say
It was a huge mistake to denationalise our energy companies and sell them off to foreign suppliers - thanks Maggie Thatcher - but Gordon Brown should now show courage and lead by example by cutting the tax on petrol, then price-capping these greedy companies to stop them continuing to bleed us dry.
Letter: Your view - Losers in this lofty scheme
The remedy: realizing you do not have to be like "everyone." We all know credit cards, with their astronomical interests rates, bleed us dry, prevent us from building a nest egg, and lead to untold stress and anxiety.
Where did all that money go?
"We could already have an answer to this question if not for the governor's trying to financially bleed us dry with procedural roadblocks that keep the court from addressing the merits of the case," PACT spokesman Arnold Buchman said in a statement.
Casino foes file a third lawsuit
They will bleed us dry in subsidies and legitimise a lot of the riff-raff coming here in the back of lorries.
Man of the People: EIRE WE GO..
Sold-off power firms now in foreign hands bleed us dry. Failing to regulate banksters created the credit crunch.
Poisonous Cam is true heir to Mrs T
They are fooling nobody and only want to grind us down and bleed us dry, and alas they are succeeding.
Promises of gifts; Your say
The lead item in the latest ABB newsletter, penned as a farewell thought from William Hill-bound senior , regulation cannot be allowed to be used as a lever against us to try to bleed us dry."
ABB calls on government to end cash grab
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