take the heat

Idioms and Phrases

Endure severe censure or criticism, as in He was known for being able to take the heat during a crisis . This idiom uses heat in the sense of “intense pressure,” as in if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen . [First half of 1900s]

Example Sentences

But most agents don’t take the heat from their colleagues that Rafa Nieves apparently did when he negotiated a one-year, $23.5-million deal for Teoscar Hernández with the Dodgers last offseason.

From Los Angeles Times

As a wave of multi-party democratising change swept across much of Africa at the beginning of the 1990s, Biya was one of several incumbent leaders to shrewdly adapt, allowing sufficient reform to take the heat out of mass protest while nevertheless firmly keeping control.

From BBC

In evidence, Orphan accepted he "probably" should have done more to "take the heat out of the argument".

From BBC

Thames’ lawyer, Joseph Long, was quoted in the Hill after the dismissal as saying that Jones was part of the “radical left” and couldn’t take “the heat of criticism.”

From Los Angeles Times

Hoover insists he is prepared to take the heat.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• decline
• drop
• fall