in the wringer
1
9.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
en apuros
- After losing the contract, the team found themselves in the wringer as they scrambled to find new clients.
Examples
-
Otherwise we're gonna get our tits caught in the wringer.
-
My nerves are like a cat with its tail in the wringer.
-
"You really got our tit in the wringer."
Fiction book (1996) -
When her project was rejected, she felt in the wringer trying to meet the tight deadline for resubmission.
-
During the economic downturn, many businesses were in the wringer, struggling to stay afloat.
Synonyms
12
4.1
In trouble because you did something wrong
7
8.3
In trouble and not sure what to do
1
7.9
Hit hard by strong storms or many serious problems
1
7.8
Put suddenly into a difficult situation without preparation or help
Being very stressed and under strong pressure
Feeling overwhelmed by many confusing problems you cannot control
Antonyms
How Pressured
37
3.9
- Informal
1
9.1
2
5.1
∞
3.1
- Informal
8
4.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
in + the + wringer
The metaphorical sense of being 'squeezed' maps reasonably well from the literal device 'wringer' (which squeezes water out of clothes), so a learner who knows 'wringer' could infer a sense of pressure or hardship. However, the idiomatic usage (often phrased as 'put through the wringer') and the low frequency/rarity of 'wringer' make the exact meaning not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The idiom in the wringer comes from old washing machines that had a wringer, two rollers that squeezed water from wet clothes. If clothes went through the rollers they were badly squeezed, so being in the wringer came to mean being 'under great pressure' or 'in a hard situation'.