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Phrase(s): sweat something out of someone [and] sweat something out
1. Lit. to apply enough heat to cause someone to sweat, with the goal of removing bodily poisons or the cause of a disease. • They used the ancient treatment of sweating the disease out of me. It worked! • They used steam to sweat out the flu. 2. Fig. to force someone to reveal information under pressure. • The cops couldn’t sweat the information out of Max. • They couldn’t sweat out the information.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs