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make bricks without straw



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Idioms and Phrases

Perform a task without essential materials or means, as in Writing a report without the current data is making bricks without straw . This expression alludes to straw as a material necessary in early brick manufacturing. [Early 1600s]
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Example Sentences

"I can't make bricks without straw," Allen retorted sullenly.

But the brownies do not work unbidden, and they will not make bricks without straw.

Probably you would feel as we suppose the Israelites did when required to make bricks without straw.

He had so often been called upon to “make bricks without straw,” that he exulted in this splendid material ready to his hand.

But Russia was compelled to improvise, to make bricks without straw.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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