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.i.ˈiː.vəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɡɛt mɪd.ˈi.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)

1. (intransitive, chiefly US, informal) To become sadistically torturous, especially due to vengeful spite.
   • 1990-1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), Miramax, published 1994:

     What now? I'll tell you what now. I'm gonna call a couple of hard pipe hittin' n-ggas 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!

See also

• (sharing a semantic theme of going nuts violently)
  • go postal
  • run amok
  • (also, in one of its senses) go ham
• on someone's ass