to paddle one's own canoe
2
7.5
- idiom
- Archaic
:
ser independiente
- She decided to stop relying on her friends and learn to paddle her own canoe.
Examples
-
After years of living with others, he finally felt ready to paddle his own canoe and live independently.
-
I'd rather be a free spinster and paddle my own canoe.
-
To succeed in this world, you must learn how to paddle your own canoe and take responsibility for your actions.
Synonyms
16
5.6
Look after yourself without help from others
12
4.2
Able to live and support yourself without help from others
7
6.5
To make your own decisions without other people telling you what to do
5
4.4
To support yourself without help from other people
5
6.2
Choose your own path in life
1
7.7
To become independent from your parents and live on your own
To do things for yourself without help from others
To do a task yourself and take responsibility for what happens
Antonyms
How Independent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally depicts propelling one's own boat (paddle + one's own + canoe) and thus metaphorically conveys taking care of oneself and being independent; a learner who knows the constituents can often infer this figurative meaning from the imagery. Because the sense depends on a metaphorical mapping from a concrete scene to the abstract concept of self-reliance rather than purely regular compositional rules, it is not fully transparent but is fairly predictable.
Etymology
Paddle one's own canoe comes from the simple image of a person alone in a canoe using a paddle to move and steer. Because they must do all the work themselves, the phrase now means 'to be independent' and 'take care of yourself'.