slender reed | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic)A person, fact, or resource on which one canrelyonly to alimitedextent.1888,G. A. Henty, chapter 12, inIn The Reign Of Terror:"It was perfectly natural for you to think that a lad of eighteen was aslender reedto lean on in the time of trouble and danger."1908,E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 35, inThe Great Secret:"It is aslender reed," Gilbert said, "for so mighty an issue to rest upon."2009September 28, Jeremy Warner, “Governments can survive recessions, but not in this case”, inTelegraph, UK, retrieved17 August 2015:Yet these precedents offer no more than aslender reedfor Gordon Brown, almost hopelessly down in the polls, to cling to.2013September 23,Lizette Alvarez, “Rubio Withdraws Support for Gay Black Judge’s Nomination to the Federal Bench”, inNew York Times, retrieved17 August 2015:The nomination of a gay black Miami judge to the federal bench will not move forward after Senator Marco Rubio announced he was withdrawing his support over concerns about the judge’s actions in two criminal cases. . . . “That is aslender reedfor Senator Rubio to hang this on,” said Representative Alcee Hastings, Democrat of Florida, referring to the two court cases.

Examples:

EN: If Julien is a slender reed, let him perish.
ES: ""Si Julien no es más que una débil caña, que se hunda;
EN: "The two of us are kind of a slender reed.
HI: हम दोनों किसी प्रतिशोध की तरह उद्दंड है
EN: You're a slender reed compared to that guard.
ID: Tidak, kau adalah bambu ramping jika dibandingkan dengan penjaga itu.

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