затронуть за живое

• ЗАДЕВАТЬ/ЗАДЕТЬ (ЗАБИРАТЬ/ЗАБРАТЬ, ЗАТРАГИВАТЬ/ЗАТРОНУТЬ и т. п.) ЗА ЖИВОЕ кого coll

[VP; subj: human or abstr; more often pfv]

=====

1. [often impers]

⇒ to hurt s.o. by saying or doing sth. that is particularly painful for him, wound s.o. s pride:

- X задел Y-а за живое{{}}≈ X cut (stung) V to the quick;

- X got V where it hurts;

- X touched (hit) a (raw) nerve.

     ♦ [Липочка:] Кого не заденет за живое: все подруги с мужьями давно, а я словно сирота какая! (Островский 10). [L.:] Who wouldn't be cut to the quick? All my girl friends have been married forever, while I stand around like an orphan (10a).

     ♦ [authors usage] Он встал из-за стола и ухмылялся уже по-иному, злорадно: ага, поймал за живое! (Копелев 1). He rose from his desk and smirked a different way now, maliciously: aha, got you where it hurts! (1a).

2. Also: БРАТЬ/ВЗЯТЬ ЗА ЖИВОЕ to touch s.o.'s innermost feelings:

- X задел Y-а за живое{{}}≈ X moved (touched) Y very deeply;

- thing X cut Y to the heart.

     ♦ Серьезное чтение утомляло его. Мыслителям не удалось расшевелить в нем жажду к умозрительным истинам. Зато поэты задели его за живое: он стал юношей, как все (Гончаров 1). Serious reading exhausted him. The philosophers were unable to arouse in him a thirst for speculative thought. ...However, the poets touched him deeply, and he became a youth like any other (1b).