tickle the dragon's tail
To do something that has a risk of going catastrophically wrong.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He likes to tickle the dragon's tail by driving too fast.”
“By ignoring the safety warnings on the machine, you are really starting to tickle the dragon's tail.”
“The diplomat knew that making such a provocative statement during the peace talks was akin to tickling the dragon's tail, yet he proceeded regardless.”
From the obvious risk of tickling a dragon's tail. In physics, it was coined by American physicist Richard Feynman to describe the experiments of Louis Slotin at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
- 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
chase the dragon
To chase after the promise of a continually fulfilling high from an addictive substance.
- 04
feed the dragon
To outsource (jobs) to the People's Republic of China.
- 05
grow a tail
to be nearly about to defecate, to the point of being unable to completely hold it in
- 06
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.
- 07
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.
- 08
have the world by the tail
To possess great influence and opportunity.
Last updated August 10, 2026