let someone or something slip through someone's fingers
Meaning: To lose something because one takes too much time to consider the situation.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The expression suggests that the thing or person one wants to keep is slippery or hard to hold on to, like water or sand. Despite the fact that one tries to grasp it, it disappears between one's fingers.
More idioms — Daily Life
- slow burn — To be quietly angry.
- slow off the mark — Slow [or quick] to understand a situation.
- sour grapes — A situation where a person criticizes something or someone out of jealousy.
- speak one's mind — To tell someone how one feels or what one thinks.
- speak one's piece — To tell someone how one feels or what one thinks.
- spitting image — An exact likeness.
More English idioms
- snowball's chance in hell — No chance at all.
- sow one's wild oats — To do foolish or wild things, usually as a youth.
- speak of the devil — An expression used when someone who is being talked about has just appeared.
- split hairs — To argue about some detail that is not important.
- spring something on someone — To surprise someone with something.
- on the spur of the moment — Suddenly or spontaneously; without advance planning.
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