单词 | to pull the chestnuts out of the fire |
释义 | > as lemmasto pull the chestnuts out of the fire i. to pull the chestnuts out of the fire and variants: to use another person to undertake the dangerous part of an enterprise.With reference to the fable of a monkey using a cat's paw to extract roasting chestnuts from the fire, and its variations. Cf. cat's paw n. 2. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > find means to do something [verb (intransitive)] > be used to undertake something dangerous to pull the chestnuts out of the fire1642 1586 G. Whitney Choice of Emblemes 58 The ape, did reache for Chestnuttes in the fire,..he with a whelpe did close, And thruste his foote, into the Embers quick, And made him, pull the Chestnuttes out perforce.] 1642 H. Parker Vintners Answer 12 Kilvert intending, as it seems, to pull out the hot Chesnut out of the fire with the Monkeys paw, rather then his own, as the crafty beast did in the Fable, did neverthelesse alter the Petition to the inverting of the sense of it. 1657 Killing is Murder 3 These he useth as the Monkey did the Cats paw, to scrape the nuts out of the fire. 1796 R. C. tr. Princess Coquedoeuf & Prince Bonbon 70 Some folks are made a cat's paw of to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for others to eat. 1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 6 July 14/1 The Unionists have, indeed, pulled the chestnuts out of the fire for Lord Salisbury. 1930 J. C. Snaith Unforeseen ii. xxi, 286 He was the guy who pulled the financial chestnuts out of the fire. 2009 Advertiser (Australia) (Nexis) 4 May 16 The expected call for more Australian troops to pull U.S. chestnuts out of the fire in Afghanistan has come. < as lemmas |
随便看 |
英语词典包含1132095条英英释义在线翻译词条,基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法,是英语学习的有利工具。