2006-12-17 16:47:29 · 2 answers · asked by leggs 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
They mean that your escape was so close that the danger touched and scraped or "skinned" your teeth.
It's the same as using "That was a close shave!"
Merry Crimbo!!!!
2006-12-17 16:52:30 · answer #1 · answered by Daimyo 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to "The Phrase Finder" website at http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/83000.html, it means "a very close miss from some disaster" and it originates from the Bible, book of Job chapter 19 verse 20, "My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth."
The Random House Maven's Word of the Day page - http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970429 - says "Job is complaining about how illness has ravaged his body." He's so sick that there's nothing left to it but skin and bone.
"The passage is rendered differently in other translations; the Douay Bible, for example, which is an English translation of the Vulgate (St. Jerome's fourth-century Latin translation), gives: 'My bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth.' "
2006-12-18 00:58:36 · answer #2 · answered by Globetrotter 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋