making bricks without straw

1 9.9

Trying to do something without the things you need

idiom

Informal

: hacer castillos en el aire

He felt like he was making bricks without straw when he had to write the report without any data.

Examples

Without the right funding, developing the new product was just making bricks without straw.
Trying to organize the event without support from the team was really making bricks without straw.
Don't make bricks without straw!
You can't expect success when you're making bricks without straw.
Without proper funding, the team felt like they were making bricks without straw while trying to develop the project.
She realized that trying to finish the report on time without guidance was like making bricks without straw.
Attempting to cook dinner without any ingredients is just making bricks without straw.

Synonyms

to cobble

vsmaking bricks without straw

Informal

21 5.3

To put things together quickly and roughly using what is available

tries to reach a goal despite lacking the necessary tools or materials

Antonyms

well-endowed with resources

4.6

Having a lot of money, people, and equipment to do its work

Surface Forms

making bricks without straw main

Morphology

making + brick + without + straw

The literal components ('making', 'bricks', 'without', 'straw') signal a task carried out despite lacking a required material, so a learner who knows the words can often infer a meaning about attempting something without necessary resources. However, recognizing that straw is traditionally used in brick-making (and that the phrase is idiomatic for an impossible or ill-equipped task) requires cultural/world knowledge, so the relation is not fully predictable.

Etymology

Making bricks without straw comes from an old Bible story where slave workers had to shape wet clay into bricks but were not given straw to mix in, so the work was much harder. So it means 'trying to do something without the things you need'.