"Pound of Flesh"
was featured by Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A. on "The Wørd" segment of "The Colbert Report"
For all wørds featured, click here, for Wikiality.com's dictionary, click here.

Pound of Flesh (bargaining chip)

1. the trading of body parts for reduced jail time, common in South Carolina
2. the death penalty in a few easy installments

Origin: William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene III

SHYLOCK (the jew):

This kindness will I show.

Go with me to a notary, seal me there

Your single bond; and, in a merry sport,

If you repay me not on such a day,

In such a place, such sum or sums as are

Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit

Be nominated for an equal pound

Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken

In what part of your body pleaseth me.

Pound of Flesh was The Wørd on the March 19, 2007 edition of The Colbert Report.