By the skin of your teeth

Meaning: By the narrowest possible margin.

Language: English

Literally: By the skin of your teeth

Category: Body & Senses

Origin: From the Book of Job in the 1560 Geneva Bible; since teeth have no skin, the margin of escape is vanishingly thin.

More idioms — Body & Senses

Ser uña y carne — To be inseparable; the closest of friends.
Fare le corna — To ward off bad luck — or to signal that a partner is being unfaithful.
Stare con le mani in mano — To stand around doing nothing while others work.
腹が黒い (hara ga kuroi) — Scheming and malicious behind a friendly face.
Зарубить на носу (Zarubit' na nosu) — To remember something firmly, once and for all.
Iets onder de knie hebben — To have mastered a skill.

To rain on someone's parade — To spoil someone's plans or happy moment.
To have a chip on your shoulder — To harbor a grudge or a defensive sense of grievance.
To cost an arm and a leg — To be extremely expensive.
To burn the midnight oil — To work late into the night.
Once in a blue moon — Very rarely.
To break the ice — To ease the initial tension in a social situation.

У тебя золотые руки (u tebya zolotye ruki) — You're extraordinarily skilled — able to make or fix anything with your hands.
T'as pas inventé le fil à couper le beurre — You're not exactly a genius — the wire to cut butter is about the most obvious tool imagi…
Tête de mule — An impossibly stubborn person who refuses to change their mind no matter what.