have the wolf by the ear
Meaning
Verb
- To be in a dangerous situation from which one cannot disengage, but in which one cannot safely remain.
Related
Similar words
- to be on the horns of a dilemma
- to have a tiger by the tail
Origin
- Initially attributed to Roman Emperor Tiberius circa year 1 AD, by biographer C. Suetonius Tranquillus
- US, 1820, by Thomas Jefferson, writing about the institution of slavery and the Missouri compromise:
- : “But, as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.”
- :: —Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes, (discussing slavery and the Missouri question), Monticello, 22 April 1820.[1]
Modern English dictionary
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