Guts for garters

Origin of: Guts for garters

Guts for garters

This expression is usually in the form of a very serious threat as in to have someone’s guts for garters. It is a particularly gruesome metaphor and one hopes that there was never a literal instance of using someone’s guts for garters, but one never knows, considering that people were still being hanged, drawn and quartered into the 18th century. The expression dates from the late 16th century.