between a rock and a hard place
Prepositional phrase
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Prepositional phrase
- (idiom, US) Bankrupt.
- (idiom) In a difficult and inescapable position.
- (idiomatic) Having the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options; in a predicament or quandary.
- 1970, David Sim, "Tangent":
- Husbands, it seems to me, are caught between the Rock of Feminism and the Hard Place of their own marriages […]
- 2008 Sept. 11, Eric Dash and Geraldine Fabrikant, "Washington Mutual stock falls on investor fears ↗", New York Times (retrieved 24 Aug 2012):
- If Washington Mutual needs to raise capital quickly, it will very likely find itself between a rock and a hard place, because credit markets have all but closed their doors to troubled banks.
- 1970, David Sim, "Tangent":
- (facing an unpleasant choice) caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, between Scylla and Charybdis, be on the horns of a dilemma; between the hammer and the anvil (principally UK)
- French: entre le marteau et l'enclume between the hammer and the anvil, entre l'arbre et l'écorce between the wood and the bark
- German: in der Zwickmühle; zwischen Hammer und Amboss (between the hammer and the anvil); zwischen den Stühlen (between the stools); zwischen Baum und Borke (between the tree and the bark); weder ein noch aus wissen (not to know in nor out)
- Italian: tra l'incudine e il martello
- Portuguese: entre a cruz e a espada between the cross and the sword
- Russian: ме́жду мо́лотом и накова́льней
- Spanish: entre la espada y la pared between the sword and the wall
- French: entre la peste et le choléra between the plague and cholera
- German: zwischen Pest und Cholera
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003