What does the expression “get it from under the ground” mean?

What does the expression “get it from under the ground” mean?
Kira Lisitskaya (Photo: rbkomar/Getty Images)
If someone promises to find something at any cost, they can add: “Из-под земли достану!” (“Iz-pod zemli dostanu!”) or “I’ll get it from under the ground!” Of course, no one is going to do any digging in the literal sense. So, what are we talking about?

When a person says this phrase, they promise to make every effort to find or search for something that’s missing or to get something important. For example, a toy or a brooch that rolled away to an unknown place. Or something so rare that it requires incredible efforts to find.

In Agniya Kuznetsova's book ‘Earth Bow’, one of the characters comes to an orphanage, hoping to find a boy who lived there. He asks the guard to call the headmistress: “Whomever you want, my wonderful master, whomever you want I’ll get from under the ground,” he says. An English equivalent would be: “To go to the end of earth to get something.”

     

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