пальцем не тронуть

• ПАЛЬЦЕМ НЕ ТРОГАТЬ/НЕ ТРОНУТЬ кого coll

[VP; subj: human; more often pfv; used without negation to convey the opposite meaning (often infin with verbs of prohibition); usu. this WO]

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⇒ not to cause s.o. any physical harm (by hitting, beating etc him):

- X Y-a пальцем не тронул{{}}≈ X didn't (so much as) lay a finger on Y;

- X never laid a finger <a hand> on Y;

- X didn't touch Y.

     ♦ Сыновей дедушка иногда избивал до полусмерти, но единственную дочь свою, Рахиль, как я уже говорил, ни разу пальцем не тронул (Рыбаков 1). Sometimes grandfather beat his sons till they were nearly half-dead, but he had never so much as laid a finger on his daughter, as I have already mentioned (1a).

     ♦ [Олег:] Не смей, не смей! Меня даже мама никогда пальцем не трогала! (Розов 2). [О.:] Don't you dare! Don't dare! Even mother never laid a finger on me! (2a).