pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
Calque of French tirer les marrons du feu, which comes from the fable The Monkey and the Cat by Jean de la Fontaine.
Verb
pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire (third-person singular simple present pulls someone's chestnuts out of the fire, present participle pulling someone's chestnuts out of the fire, simple past and past participle pulled someone's chestnuts out of the fire)
- Synonym of pull someone's bacon out of the fire (“rescue someone, especially at the last moment”)
- 2006 Oct. 9, Jacob Heilbrunn, "‘Work Hard, Study ... and Keep Out of Politics!’" (book review), New York Times (retrieved 23 Oct 2011):
- By now, however, it's unlikely that even this faithful retainer can once more pull Bush's chestnuts out of the fire.
- 2006 Oct. 9, Jacob Heilbrunn, "‘Work Hard, Study ... and Keep Out of Politics!’" (book review), New York Times (retrieved 23 Oct 2011):
- To do another person's difficult work. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Translations
do someone's difficult work
|
See also
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
