Idiom
lady or tiger
Meaning
A pure gamble with highly divergent outcomes.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Choosing that job is a lady or tiger situation.”
“Investing all your savings in a new startup is a real lady or tiger gamble.”
“The politician faced a lady or tiger dilemma, knowing that his final decision would lead either to a triumphant victory or a total career collapse.”
Examples
simple
“Choosing that job is a lady or tiger situation.”
contextual
“Investing all your savings in a new startup is a real lady or tiger gamble.”
complex
“The politician faced a lady or tiger dilemma, knowing that his final decision would lead either to a triumphant victory or a total career collapse.”
Origin
From the short story The Lady, or the Tiger by Frank R. Stockton, in which a condemned man is offered two doors, one of which leads to a beautiful woman and the other to a ferocious tiger.
Key words
Related idioms
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