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.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He has the tiger by the tail with this new project.”
“She realized she had the tiger by the tail when the business deal became too complex to stop or finish.”
“By accepting the leadership role during the crisis, he found he had the tiger by the tail, unable to retreat without causing a total collapse.”
- 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 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.
- 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