protect one's turf
Meaning: To defend one's area of control or responsibility against others.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “Each department is busy protecting its turf instead of cooperating.”
Category: Nature
Origin: "Turf" meant a gang's territory in American slang from the mid-20th century; the image of guarding one's patch of ground spread to offices and politics.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Défendre son pré carré — literally: To defend one's square field
More idioms — Nature
- chase rainbows — To pursue something unrealistic.
- left high and dry — Stranded or abandoned without help.
- gone with the wind — Gone forever, vanished without a trace.
- the light at the end of the tunnel — A sign that a long, difficult period is ending.
- be in clover — To live in comfort and luxury.
- go downhill — To get steadily worse.
More English idioms
- a Pyrrhic victory — A win that costs so much it is almost a defeat.
- go to rack and ruin — To fall into a state of decay through neglect.
- on one's toes — Alert and ready to react.
- an old wives' tale — A traditional belief, especially about health, that is not true.
- a pen-pusher — A clerk or bureaucrat doing dull paperwork.
- a word to the wise — A hint or warning that a sensible person will heed.