Antonyms for thin ice
Grammar : Noun |
Spell : eg |
Phonetic Transcription : ɛg |
Definition of thin ice
Origin :- mid-14c., from northern England dialect, from Old Norse egg, which vied with Middle English eye, eai (from Old English æg) until finally displacing it after 1500; both are from Proto-Germanic *ajja(m) (cf. Old Saxon, Middle Dutch, Dutch, Old High German, German ei, Gothic ada), probably from PIE *owyo-/*oyyo- "egg" (cf. Old Church Slavonic aja, Russian jajco, Breton ui, Welsh wy, Greek oon, Latin ovum); possibly derived from root *awi- "bird." Caxton (15c.) writes of a merchant (probably a north-country man) in a public house on the Thames who asked for eggs:
- And the goode wyf answerde, that she coude speke no frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry, for he also coude speke no frenshe, but wolde have hadde egges, and she understode hym not.
- She did, however, recognize another customer's request for "eyren." Bad egg in the figurative sense is from 1855. To have egg on (one's) face "be made to look foolish" is attested by 1948.
- [Young & Rubincam] realize full well that a crew can sometimes make or break a show. It can do little things to ruin a program or else, by giving it its best, can really get that all-important rating. They are mindful of an emcee of a variety show who already has been tabbed "old egg in your face" because the crew has managed to get him in such awkward positions on the TV screen. ["Billboard," March 5, 1949]
- Eggs Benedict attested by 1898. The figure of speech represented in to have all (one's) eggs in one basket is attested by 1660s.
- As in : noun danger
- As in imperilment : noun danger
- As in danger : noun hazard, troublesome situation
- As in hazard : noun danger
- But I'll come off the thin ice, and you shall have nothing but facts now.
- Extract from : « The Stark Munro Letters » by J. Stark Munro
- "I'm showing ye how an old woman walks on thin ice," said Martha.
- Extract from : « If You Touch Them They Vanish » by Gouverneur Morris
- At 50 you are walking on thin ice; look out, danger is near.
- Extract from : « Evening Round Up » by William Crosbie Hunter
- Mr. Baker ventured out upon the thin ice of cross-examination.
- Extract from : « By The Sea » by Heman White Chaplin
- But the day was so cold, there was little danger from thin ice.
- Extract from : « The Nursery, February 1878, Vol. XXIII, No. 2 » by Various
- One morning the party came to a stream covered with thin ice.
- Extract from : « In The Boyhood of Lincoln » by Hezekiah Butterworth
- The foolish animals, trying to cross the thin ice, broke through.
- Extract from : « The Conquest » by Eva Emery Dye
- A farmer who came into the train told us there was thin ice on the ponds.
- Extract from : « A July Holiday in Saxony, Bohemia, and Silesia » by Walter White
- In the matter of libel, they are adepts at skating on thin ice.
- Extract from : « The Philippines Past and Present (Volume 2 of 2) » by Dean Conant Worcester
- In fact, I began to feel almost as though I was getting on thin ice.
- Extract from : « The Yazoo Mystery » by Irving Craddock
Synonyms for thin ice
- clouds
- crisis
- double trouble
- dynamite
- emergency
- endangerment
- exigency
- exposure
- hazard
- hot potato
- imperilment
- insecurity
- instability
- jeopardy
- menace
- peril
- pitfall
- possibility
- precariousness
- precipice
- probability
- razor's edge
- risk
- risky business
- slipperiness
- storm
- thin ice
- threat
- uncertainty
- venture
- vulnerability
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019