sacar el ascua con mano ajena

Meaning: To get someone else to do one's dirty work or take the blame for one's own wrongdoing.

Language: Spanish

Literally: to draw the hot coal with another's hand

Category: Daily Life

Origin: The image pictures someone using another person as a tool to retrieve something dangerous and hot, thereby keeping one's own hands clean.

More idioms — Daily Life

contante y sonante — Money in ready cash; actual payment rather than promises or credit.
de Pascuas a Ramos — Once in a blue moon; extremely rarely or at great intervals.
Dampf ablassen — To release pent-up emotion or frustration.
aus dem Off — to speak or act without drawing attention to oneself, anonymously or from the background.
etwas auf die lange Bank schieben — to postpone or delay something indefinitely.
in die Quere kommen — to interfere with someone, to get in the way or obstruct.

arrimar el ascua a su sardina — To arrange matters selfishly in one's own favor; to look out for oneself at others' expen…
lobo con piel de cordero — A person who appears harmless or trustworthy but is actually dangerous or deceitful.
dar coces contra el aguijón — To resist or rebel futilely against something stronger or inevitable.
no ganar para sustos — To be plagued by constant troubles and misfortunes; to suffer setback after setback.
perder la chaveta — To go crazy; to lose one's grip on sanity or self-control.
con lo puesto — With nothing but the clothes on one's back; in a state of complete destitution.

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