all hands on deck
Meaning: Everyone is needed to help right now.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The restaurant is fully booked tonight, so it's all hands on deck.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: A ship's order calling every crew member ("hand") up on deck, used in the days of sail. The figurative sense for any urgent collective effort came later.
Equivalents in other languages
- Japanese: 猫の手も借りたい (Neko no te mo karitai) — literally: I want to borrow even a cat's paw
- French: Convoquer le ban et l'arrière-ban — literally: To summon the ban and the rear-ban
- French: Un branle-bas de combat — literally: A hammock-down for combat
More idioms — Daily Life
- pick holes in — To find small faults in something, often unfairly.
- take someone down a peg — To make an arrogant person more humble.
- you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy — People keep the habits and character of where they grew up.
- go to Canossa — To humble oneself and submit to an opponent.
- a captain of industry — A powerful business leader who runs a major company.
- the bigger they are, the harder they fall — The more powerful someone is, the worse their downfall.
More English idioms
- a banana republic — A small, politically unstable country dominated by a corrupt elite or foreign business.
- go under the knife — To have a surgical operation.
- a day late and a dollar short — Too late and not enough to be useful.
- a whipping boy — Someone who is blamed or punished for the faults of others.
- the life of the party — A lively, fun person who makes a gathering enjoyable.
- kick against the pricks — To resist authority or fate in a way that only hurts oneself.
From our proverbs
- Patience is a flower that grows not in every one's garden. — Not everyone possesses the inner discipline to cultivate patience; it requires deliberate…
- Patience is a plaister for all sores. — Persistent endurance gradually heals even the deepest wounds, both physical and emotional.
- Pay him in his own coin. — Treat others as they have treated you, using their own methods and tactics against them.