Avere le mani in pasta

Meaning: To be deeply involved in something.

Language: Italian

Literally: To have your hands in the dough

Category: Food & Drink

Origin: From the kitchen, where hands buried in the pasta dough are right in the thick of the work — for better or worse.

More idioms — Food & Drink

• お茶を濁す — To dodge a question with a vague, evasive answer.
• Encher linguiça — To pad something out with filler to take up space or time.
• Met de neus in de boter vallen — To arrive at exactly the right, lucky moment.
• 미역국을 먹다 — To fail an exam.
• Lägga rabarber på något — To claim or grab something for yourself.
• Nu har du satt din sista potatis — You've done your last misdeed; you're finished.

More Italian idioms

• Stare con le mani in mano — To stand around doing nothing while others work.
• Non ci piove — There's no doubt about it whatsoever.
• Non avere peli sulla lingua — To speak bluntly and hold nothing back.
• Liscio come l'olio — To go off without a hitch.
• Fare il portoghese — To sneak in without paying.
• Avere le mani bucate — To be a spendthrift.

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