last chance saloon
1
7.0
- noun
- UK
:
última oportunidad
- - Last chance saloon.
Examples
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The coach told the team that their upcoming game was their last chance saloon to qualify for the finals.
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But he kind of knew that was like a last chance saloon for a little while maybe as as a young keeper.
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I remember clear as day that we were playing at a club in Worcester called the last chance saloon.
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- Last chance saloon!
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Last chance saloon.
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After failing to meet deadlines for months, she realized this was her last chance saloon to prove herself at work.
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He considered his meeting with the investor as a last chance saloon to secure funding for his startup.
Synonyms
69
3.5
A final thing you try when all other options have failed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The core idea of a ‘final opportunity’ is directly signalled by the constituents 'last' + 'chance', so part of the meaning is compositional. However, 'saloon' functions as a figurative/place noun and the whole phrase is a British idiom whose full pragmatic sense and collocational pattern are not fully predictable from the parts, so a B1 learner may not reliably infer the exact idiomatic use without exposure.
Etymology
Last chance saloon: One popular story says the phrase comes from real bars called saloons that were the last place to drink before a long trip or before entering an area where you could not buy alcohol. So calling a moment a last chance saloon gives the image of a 'final opportunity' to succeed or avoid failure.