get medieval

English

Alternative forms

go medieval

Etymology

From get (“to become”) + medieval (“relating to medieval dungeon torture methods”); originally merely collocational when attested in the dialogue of the 1994 film Pulp Fiction, but the collocation took on the function of a phrasal verb, entering the lexicon as a term for torturing severely, after it went viral as a consequence of the film's popularity.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɡɛt ˌmɛd.iˈiː.vəl/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɡɛt mɪdˈi.vəl/
Hyphenation: get me‧die‧val

Verb

get medieval (third-person singular simple present gets medieval, present participle getting medieval, simple past got medieval, past participle gotten medieval or got medieval)

(intransitive, chiefly US, informal) To become sadistically torturous, especially due to vengeful spite.
- 1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), Miramax:
  What now? I'll tell you what now. I'm gonna call a couple of hard pipe hittin' niggas to go to work on the homes here with a pair of pliers and a blow-torch. You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy?! I ain't through with you by a damn sight! I'ma get medieval on your ass!
- 2001, Zane, “Harlem Blues”, in The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the myth, Strebor Books, →ISBN, page 98:
  I got medieval on both their asses, packed all the shit I could possibly carry, and caught a cab to my sister's place near 135th and 5th Avenue in Harlem.
- 2002, Edwardo Jackson, Ever After‎^[1], Villard, →ISBN:
  “Check it out, god. Remember that night we stayed up all night, that Saturday night when your roommate was out bonin’ LaShonda? I brought the ‘Station up there and got in that ass three or fo’ times. I got medieval on you, muthafucka!”
- 2012, Baye McNeil, Hi! My name is Loco and I am a racist, Brooklyn, NY: Hunterfly Road Publishing, →ISBN, page 325:
  Doesn't it matter that members of the race you idolize were the ones that unleashed hell on your country and got medieval on innocent Japanese women and children not so long ago?