tread water
Verb
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Verb
tread water
- To remain afloat in the water without use of any buoyancy aid, by using kicking motions and hand motions.
- 1857, R. M. Ballantyne, The Coral Island, chapter 13
- We gained the interior of the submarine cave without difficulty, and on emerging from the waves, supported ourselves for some time by treading water, while we held the two bundles above our heads.
- 1857, R. M. Ballantyne, The Coral Island, chapter 13
- To make no progress, expending effort just enough to maintain a stable position.
- 2009, The Economist, The idea of progress: Onwards and upwards ↗
- The popular view is that, although technology and GDP advance, morals and society are treading water or, depending on your choice of newspaper, sinking back into decadence and barbarism.
- 2010, The Economist, Aid and austerity ↗
- In the first scenario, the fund gets $13 billion, the minimum investment needed for the organisation to tread water.
- 2009, The Economist, The idea of progress: Onwards and upwards ↗
- German: Wasser treten
- Italian: stare a galla
- French: faire du sur place
- German: auf der Stelle treten (colloquial), sich im Kreis drehen
- Italian: annaspare
- Russian: топта́ться на ме́сте
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