between the hammer and the anvil

between the hammer and the anvil

English

Etymology

Referring to the metal on a blacksmith's anvil, which is beaten with a hammer.

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

between the hammer and the anvil

1. (principally Britain, idiomatic) With the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options; in a predicament or quandary.
   • 1848, Jean Henri Merle d'Aubigné, The Protector, a vindication, page 250:

     Yet for a time the nation was again placed between the democracy of the levellers and the despotism of the Stuarts, — between the hammer and the anvil.

   • 1990, Judas Priest, Between The Hammer and the Anvil

     The sinner / Will testify / They'll suffer / When sacrificed on high / The burning sermons purge their evil words / Between the hammer and the anvil

Synonyms

• between a rock and a hard place
• between Scylla and Charybdis

Translations

with the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options

Arabic: بَيْنَ ٱلْمِطْرَقَةِ وَٱلسِّنْدَانِ‎ (bayna l-miṭraqati was-sindāni) Bulgarian: между чука и наковалнята (meždu čuka i nakovalnjata) Finnish: puun ja kuoren välissä French: entre le marteau et l'enclume (fr), la peste ou le choléra (fr) German: zwischen Hammer und Amboss Greek: μεταξύ σφύρας και άκμονος (el) (metaxý sfýras kai ákmonos)

Hebrew: בֵּין הַפַּטִּישׁ וְהַסַּדָּן‎ (he) (bein hapatísh vehasadán) Italian: tra l'incudine e il martello Polish: między młotem a kowadłem (pl) Romanian: prins intre ciocan si nicovala Russian: между молотом и наковальней (ru) (meždu molotom i nakovalʹnej) Yiddish: צווישן האַמער און קאָוואַדלע‎ (tsvishn hamer un kovadle)