between the hammer and the anvil
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Referring to the metal on a blacksmith's anvil, which is beaten with a hammer.
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Prepositional phrase[edit]
between the hammer and the anvil
- (chiefly UK, idiomatic) With the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options; in a predicament or quandary.
- Synonyms: between a rock and a hard place, between Scylla and Charybdis, between the devil and the deep blue sea; see also Thesaurus:dilemma, Thesaurus:difficult situation
- 1848, Jean Henri Merle d'Aubigné, The Protector, a vindication, page 250:
- Yet for a time the nation was again placed between the democracy of the levellers and the despotism of the Stuarts, — between the hammer and the anvil.
- 1990, Judas Priest, Between The Hammer and the Anvil:
- The sinner / Will testify / They'll suffer / When sacrificed on high / The burning sermons purge their evil words / Between the hammer and the anvil
Translations[edit]
with the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options
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