Idiom
rob Peter to pay Paul
Meaning
To use resources that legitimately belong to or are needed by one party in order to satisfy a legitimate need of another party, especially within the same organization or group; to solve a problem in a way that makes another problem worse, producing no net gain.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He borrows money from his brother to pay his rent, robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
“She robs Peter to pay Paul when she skips breakfast to buy lunch.”
“The company moved funds from the marketing budget to cover payroll, which is just robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
“If you use your credit card to pay off your bank loan, you are just robbing Peter to pay Paul and staying in debt.”
“By neglecting long-term infrastructure maintenance to fund immediate operational costs, the city council is merely robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
Examples
simple
“He borrows money from his brother to pay his rent, robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
“She robs Peter to pay Paul when she skips breakfast to buy lunch.”
contextual
“The company moved funds from the marketing budget to cover payroll, which is just robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
“If you use your credit card to pay off your bank loan, you are just robbing Peter to pay Paul and staying in debt.”
complex
“By neglecting long-term infrastructure maintenance to fund immediate operational costs, the city council is merely robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
Origin
Unknown. Sometimes claimed to refer to Church taxes paid to Westminster Abbey (originally called Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster) that were sent to repair St. Paul's Cathedral in the mid 1500s, though records exist of the phrase since about 1450.
Key words
Related idioms
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