over a barrel
7
7.9
- idiom
- Informal
- The sudden change in policy left us all over a barrel, unable to make any decisions.
- got you over a barrel
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Watch on YouTubeThe one place that they had us over a barrel was the State Department with export regulations, right?
- The one place that they had us over a barrel was the State Department with export regulations, right?
- We're the the richest country in the world and these fanatics have basically got us over a barrel.
Examples
-
She's actually got me over a barrel thanks to that drone story.
-
She had him over a barrel, that ruthless old woman, and she was well aware of it.
Fiction book (1995) -
Yeah, he knows he has us over a barrel.
-
You got me over a barrel.
-
Looks like you got me over a barrel, good buddy.
Fiction book (1992) -
The President has them over a barrel.
Blog text (19) -
We're over a barrel, Danny.
-
Right now I'm over a barrel.
Fiction book (1992) -
The one place that they had us over a barrel was the State Department with export regulations, right?
-
He got you over a barrel, huh?
Synonyms
3
9.6
In a difficult situation with little chance to make things better
1
9.9
A very bad situation with no way to fix it
1
9.9
To be in a difficult situation with no way out
In a situation where you cannot act freely and must accept someone else's decision
Antonyms
How Helpless
- Informal
41
4.4
- Informal
7
7.9
138
3.6
581
4.0
∞
2.9
241
3.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
over + a + barrel
The meaning 'helpless or at someone's mercy' cannot be derived from the literal senses of 'over' + 'a' + 'barrel', which only describe a spatial relation; a B1 learner who knows the words would not predict the idiomatic helplessness sense. This is a language-specific idiom with no transparent compositional mapping, so the expression is unpredictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Over a barrel may come from a strong image: a person held over a barrel so they could not move and had to obey others. So today it means 'helpless' or 'at someone's mercy'.