hang by a thread

verb

Etymology

An allusion to the anecdotal sword of Damocles, which was suspended by a hair.

Definitions

  1. To be in danger, calling for precise caution

    To be in danger, calling for precise caution; to be in a precarious situation.

    • A giant section of an Antarctic ice shelf is hanging by a thread and could break off at any moment, researchers have revealed.
    • Do you ever get a little bit tired of life / Like you're not really happy, but you don't wanna die / Like you're hanging by a thread, but you gotta survive / 'Cause you gotta survive

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for hang by a thread. 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