word or phrase for pursuing a losing argument in a certain manner. rev 2020.10.9.37784, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, English Language & Usage Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us, Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been. Top synonyms for clutching at straws (other words for clutching at straws) are grasping at straws, at straws and just grasping at straws. Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange! Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. In Reply to: Clutching at straws posted by R. Berg on January 05, 2004: : does anyone know the origin of clutching at straws, or maybe, grasping at straws. Ethics of spending one's private time to work with unrelated projects. When did this division, more or less, occur? How can I get my defrosted pizza dough to transfer from peel to oven?
Clutching At Straws synonyms. This seems like a drowning Man catching at a Straw. From the 1831 Particulars of an Overland Journey from London to Bombay there is: Also, the November 1907 Lutheran Pioneer has an article Grasping at Straws that specifically describes grasping to prevent falling down an embankment.
Judging by the antiquation of the "catching at" construction, it seems to make sense that the idiom would adjust in wording to adapt to the tongues of contemporary speakers.
With Tenor, maker of GIF Keyboard, add popular Grasping At Straws animated GIFs to your conversations.
(interestingly, both "catcheth" and "grasp" are being used with the same meaning). Does it matter where you host your website for a portfolio? Clutching vs. “That is” — taking out his watch — “I have not time now to see him.
Some sustain that the phrase “grasping at straws” has overtaken that of “clutching at straws”. There could be many explanations for this difference, so I can only speculate. Examples. Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, The Evening Post (New York, New York)22 Jun, The Evening Post (New York, New York)08 Sep, The Raleigh Minerva (Raleigh, North Carolina)01 Nov, Particulars of an Overland Journey from London to Bombay, chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/…, Responding to the Lavender Letter and commitments moving forward. Share the best GIFs now >>> I was probably grasping at straws in a search for a cure, but I …
Also: Clutching at straws Grabbing at straws. Literally - a drowning person who, unable to find any substantial floatation immediately at had, attempts to save himself from certain death by grabbing hold of a few stray pieces of straw floating on the water within arm's length.
"It is no maruaile, that Bellarmine (like a man readie to be drowned) taketh hold of euery straw for his reliefe. Be in such a desperate situation as to resort to even the most unlikely means of salvation. To make a clutch at, to make an eager effort to seize. Compare this sense of the word catch with sense 23: to catch at: to snatch at; to make a quick or eager attempt to lay hold of; often fig.
Searching for early uses of the various forms, I came upon several uses of the "catch" construction that use the word "grasp" to emphasize, and possibly to modernize or explain, the expression. To clutch at straws definition: If you are clutching at straws or grasping at straws , you are trying unusual or extreme... | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples
Apart from OED's attestations of the "clutch at" construction in British sources, I can't find much evidence pointing to a correlation for the phrase "clutch at" without the full expression, "clutch at straws.". What's the meaning of ladybug when you use for men. But at some point in the late 19th century or early 20th century, the man stopped drowning, and the verb “catch” was replaced with “clutch” in the UK, while “grasp” was preferred in the US.
Though it's not marked as "obsolete" by OED, and the construction certainly persisted in the form of this expression, it seems to be antiquated. On the whole, the candid reader, will certainly be apt to think that the men who can make no better defences than those which have lately appeared in the court gazette, are in almost as bad a situation as this writer represents the authors... That they have not a plank left to stand on, that they are catching at straws, but that even those straws elude their grasp, and that they are sinking, never to rise. Out of desparation, the act of reaching or stretching for a solution, no matter how irrational or inconsequential.
Therefore, grasping at straws or clutching at straws refers to a futile or desperate situation. Is a wand of lightning bolts made of metal? Definition of Clutching at Straws in the Idioms Dictionary.
NGram searches, if we're to believe them, seem to confirm the suggestion that "clutch at straws" rose to greater prominence in British English, whereas "grasp at straws" flourished in the United States.
The version with straw surfaced some fifty years later in John Prime's Fruitful and Brief Discourse, We do not as men redie to be drowned, catch at euery straw, The straw version was used throughout the 18th and 19th century, and both American and British writers (and speakers) continued to use the dramatic metaphor of a drowning man fighting for his life. It is hard to say what foolish thing he thought. While straws might float, they will not bear the weight of a drowning man. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Cookie Policy, Privacy Policy, and our Terms of Service. Why was/is “grasped” preferred in the US? There are so many different variations, ways to phrase the idea. A man, drowning by water, does catch at straws: and a man, drowning by evil fortunes, catches at fantasies equally frail and hopeless. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. What does the "Roman" numeral Ɔ represent?
With Tenor, maker of GIF Keyboard, add popular Grasping At Straws animated GIFs to your conversations. Particularly, we can zoom in on the sense related to catching an object in the air (sense 24).
clutch (or grasp or catch) at straws Related: What does "clutching at straws" mean? (Also with indirect passive.). American English with "grasp at straws" ahead. site design / logo © 2020 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. My best hypothesis is that the construction "clutch at" meaning " to make an eager effort to seize" might have been a uniquely British sense of the word "clutch" in the 19th century, around the time that "catch at" was fading out of use apart from the uses in this expression. This seems relevant to the eventual evolution to "grasping at straws.". As can be seen above, American and British English both used the verb "catch" in the metaphor of a drowning man. What does Clutching at Straws expression mean? Is it illegal for a US voter to disclose their ballot choices?
Grasping. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. Man hath lost his way, since he lost his eyes; poor man catcheth at every straw, grasps every trifle. Share the best GIFs now >>>
1771 New York Journal in Newspaper Extracts (I) 8.401: …like a drowning Man, willing to catch at a Straw. NGram searches, if we're to believe them, seem to confirm the suggestion that "clutch at straws" rose to greater prominence in British English, whereas "grasp at straws" flourished in the United States. Imagine that you are about to fall. Unlike catching an object out of the air, which is still in modern use, the "catch at" sense is attested most recently in 1782. : An old proverb that goes something like "Drowning men will grasp at straws," meaning that people who feel … Clutching at Straws phrase.
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The sense's earliest attestation is from 1589, but it is still in common use today. Log in, Back the wrong horse and bet on the wrong horse, Thorn in one’s side and thorn in one’s flesh. The conflicting origin of a “piece of cake”, Matchstick Problem: Turn 1 into 12 by removing a matchstick. A man in peril of drowning catchest whatsoever cometh next to hand... be it never so simple a stick.
Also the 1704 A Collection of Voyages and Travels, at page xv: But there is nothing solid in this argument, it is only catching at straws, when all history and practice of former ages make against it. I was probably grasping at straws in a search for a cure, but I thought I would give the therapy a go. Meaning of Idiom ‘Grasping at Straws’ To be grasping at straws means to be willing to do, say, or believe anything that offers even the slightest hope in a desperate situation, even though there is almost no chance for success.
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