пан или пропал (pan ili propal)
Meaning: To risk everything on a single venture; all or nothing, sink or swim.
Language: Russian
Literally: lord or lost
Category: Daily Life
Origin: A saying from Polish-Lithuanian history meaning one must either rule or be ruined, reflecting the high stakes of warfare and politics in that region.
More idioms — Daily Life
- огород городить (ogorod gorodit') — To make a fuss or create complicated problems over something trivial; to engage in useles…
- сыграть в ящик (sygrat' v yashchik) — To die.
- нашего полку прибыло (nashego polku pribylo) — Another person has joined a group or shared predicament; a welcome to the club.
- на славу (na slavu) — Excellently; very well; in a first-rate manner.
- вводить в заблуждение (vvodit' v zabluzhdenie) — To deceive or mislead someone deliberately.
- сарафанное радио (sarafannoe radio) — The informal spread of gossip or news from person to person, especially by word of mouth.
More Russian idioms
- до посинения (do posineniya) — To do something with extreme effort or persistence, usually futilely.
- горе луковое (gore lukovoye) — A person who is accident-prone, hapless, or bumbling; one who causes trouble by their own…
- на честном слове и на одном крыле (na chestnom slove i na odnom kryle) — Succeeding or surviving by the barest margin, through luck or desperation rather than sol…
- развесистая клюква (razvestistaya klyukva) — Ignorant stereotypes and tall tales about Russia, especially those peddled by foreigners.
- ври больше (vri bolshe) — An expression of dismissive disbelief; an ironical way of saying someone's story is uncon…
- пускаться во все тяжкие (puskat'sya vo vse tyazhkiye) — To abandon restraint and indulge recklessly in vices or wrongdoing without scruple.
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