пан или пропал
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 — To make a fuss or create complicated problems over something trivial; to engage in useles…
- сыграть в ящик — To die.
- нашего полку прибыло — Another person has joined a group or shared predicament; a welcome to the club.
- на славу — Excellently; very well; in a first-rate manner.
- вводить в заблуждение — To deceive or mislead someone deliberately.
- сарафанное радио — The informal spread of gossip or news from person to person, especially by word of mouth.
More Russian idioms
- до посинения — To do something with extreme effort or persistence, usually futilely.
- горе луковое — A person who is accident-prone, hapless, or bumbling; one who causes trouble by their own…
- на честном слове и на одном крыле — Succeeding or surviving by the barest margin, through luck or desperation rather than sol…
- развесистая клюква — Ignorant stereotypes and tall tales about Russia, especially those peddled by foreigners.
- ври больше — An expression of dismissive disbelief; an ironical way of saying someone's story is uncon…
- пускаться во все тяжкие — To abandon restraint and indulge recklessly in vices or wrongdoing without scruple.
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