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Well, "to cuss" (упротреблять мат) originated simply as a dialect pronunciation of "to curse" (проклясть) But the etymology of "curse" is a bit mysterious --it goes back to Old English (with the same...

Thanks for the great list, Paul! I'm curious about the history of some of these expressions, but I couldn't find good-quality etymologies for them online. For instance, I wonder if песочить is a...

Valda: Note that the literal definition of this verb is "to cut with a пила".

Thus, "Начальник меня пилит" could have more than one meaning if your boss happens to be THIS guy:
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In addition to Mark's suggestions, I think you could say ругать кого-нибудь ("to chew someone out; to scold someone angrily") or читать кому-нибудь нотацию (which is not unlike "to lecture someone"...