IdiomFood & Drink
English
Englishhave a finger in every pie
Meaning: To be involved in many different things at once.
Example: “The old shopkeeper has a finger in every pie in this town.”
Origin: The image is of a cook who dips a finger into every dish. Shakespeare has "no man's pie is freed from his ambitious finger" in Henry VIII (1613).
Equivalents in other languages
Italian: Avere le mani in pasta Literally: To have your hands in the dough
More English idioms
- go off without a hitch To happen smoothly, with no problems.
- lose one's shirt To lose all one's money.
- get the wrong end of the stick To misunderstand something completely.
- have a bee in one's bonnet To be obsessed with one idea.
- put down roots To settle somewhere permanently.
- on tenterhooks In anxious suspense.
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