have a tiger by the tail
To be in a difficult or dangerous situation in which one ideally should not remain, but from which one cannot withdraw.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“I have a tiger by the tail with this new project.”
“He took on the massive company merger, but now he realizes he has a tiger by the tail.”
“By involving himself in such a volatile political scandal, the senator soon discovered he had a tiger by the tail and could not easily withdraw.”
- 01
chase one's tail
To busily try to perform many tasks or to repeatedly revise one's plans, especially with inefficient use of one's time and limited results.
- 02
chase tail
To be on the hunt for a (usually sexual) partner.
- 03
grow a tail
to be nearly about to defecate, to the point of being unable to completely hold it in
- 04
have the tiger by the tail
To be in a difficult or dangerous situation in which one ideally should not remain, but from which one cannot withdraw.
- 05
have the world by the tail
To possess great influence and opportunity.
- 06
kick some tail
To be authoritative and assertive in order to achieve or accomplish something.
- 07
lady or tiger
A pure gamble with highly divergent outcomes.
- 08
make head or tail of
To understand even minimally.
Last updated August 10, 2026