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charmed life
charmed life idiom
An existence that seems protected by extreme good luck, as in Robert came out of that accident without a scratch; he must lead a charmed life. The adjective charmed once meant “magical,” which is no doubt what Shakespeare had in mind when he used the term in Macbeth (5:8): “Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests, I bear a charmed life, which must not yield To one of woman born.” Later it was extended to anyone who narrowly escaped from danger or was similarly lucky. [Late 1500s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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