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in a cleft stick. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
in a cleft stick, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in a cleft stick in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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in a cleft stick, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From the metaphor of being caught in a tight position, unable to move.
Pronunciation
Prepositional phrase
in a cleft stick
- (Australia, British, dated) In a difficult situation, unable to choose between unfavourable options; in a dilemma.
- 1964 September 3, H. Fullerton, Letters: Survival of the wild, New Scientist, Volume 23, No. 407, page 579:
- Such a solution only puts the humanist in a cleft stick by trading the problem of malnutrition for that of over-population.
1991, Attar Chand, Rajiv Gandhi: His Mind and Ideology, page 214:But considerations in drafting Sonia Gandhi apart, the Congress leadership is clearly caught in a cleft stick, with or without the services of Rajiv Gandhi′s widow.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see in, cleft, stick.
- 1922, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, Forgotten Books, Easy Reading Series, page 31:
- Hence when a Huichol woman is about to weave or embroider, her husband catches a large serpent and holds it in a cleft stick, while the woman strokes the reptile with one hand down the whole length of its back;