albatross around one's neck
nounEtymology
From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, wherein a sailor's killing of an albatross brings bad luck and results in the dead bird being hung around the killer's neck by his crewmates.
Definitions
A characteristic, possession, associate, or previous deed that hinders one's ability to…
A characteristic, possession, associate, or previous deed that hinders one's ability to succeed.
- He bought the properties last year hoping to make a profit by reselling them; however, with the economic downturn, they have become an albatross around his neck.
- Less attention was paid to the albatross that Bain, KKR, and Vornado had placed around the company’s neck. Toys “R” Us had a debt load of $1.86 billion before it was bought out.
- “Marine wants to be French president, and her chance are pretty good for 2027,” said one former senior AfD official. “Why would she want a bunch of German neo-Nazis like an albatross round her neck?”
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for albatross around one's neck. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA