Searching 1,789 entries, their variants, meanings, and origins

“trouble”

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Showing 49–56 of 56 matches

49. Bend over backwards

    Origin … physical feat of bending backwards to taking extraordinary trouble. 'Fall over backwards', meaning to be eager, is a related expression. Whether the fairness sense or the general great-effort sense came first…

    Also known as bend over backward · bend over backwards to help · fall over backwards · lean over backwards

50. Sowing dragon's teeth

    Origin … Zone (1979) says simply, you don't sow dragon's teeth, of the making of assassins. Wiktionary's glosses catch both faces: an act that leads to trouble, and one intended to prevent trouble that brings it about…

    Also known as sow dragon's teeth · sown dragon's teeth · the armed harvest

51. Pandora's box

    Meaning A source of troubles that, once opened, cannot be closed again - a situation, decision, or line of inquiry that looks containable and releases far more harm than anyone expected. The phrase is nearly always…

    Also known as open a Pandora's box · open Pandora's box · Pandora's boxes

52. If it ain't broke, don't fix it

    Origin … could save billions by adopting the motto ('That's the trouble with government: fixing things that aren't broken and not fixing things that are broken'). The attribution of the popularization is secure, but…

    Also known as if it ain't broken, don't fix it · if it works, don't fix it · if it's not broke, don't fix it

53. Whataboutism

    Origin … the pattern was first named in Northern Ireland during the Troubles: a 1974 letter to The Irish Times by teacher Sean O'Conaill complained about 'the Whatabouts' defending the IRA, and days later columnist…

    Also known as whataboutery · whatabouting · whataboutist

54. It never rains but it pours

    Meaning Troubles rarely arrive singly: when one misfortune comes, others follow at once. It is occasionally said of good things arriving all at once, though the negative use dominates. The older full wording now…

    Also known as It cannot rain but it pours · It never rains without pouring · When it rains, it pours

55. Keep your chin up

    Origin … Democrat in 1900 ('Keep your chin up. Don't take your troubles to bed with you'). Merriam-Webster dates the related noun 'chin-up' (the exercise) to 1918. A British cousin, 'keep your pecker up', is older…

    Also known as chin up · hold your chin up · keep one's chin up · keep your pecker up (British counterpart)

56. Keep your head above water

    Origin … only by keeping mouth and nose clear of the surface; troubles are pictured as waters that could swallow you, so the metaphor needs no elaborate origin story. The earliest citation in Wiktionary is spiritual…

    Also known as get your head above water · hold your head above water · keep one's head above water · keep your head above the water