Advertisement
Advertisement
not touch with a ten-foot pole
Discover More
Idioms and Phrases
Stay far away from, avoid completely, as in Ronald wouldn't touch raw oysters with a ten-foot pole . This expression dates from the mid-1700s, when it began to replace the earlier not to be handled with a pair of tongs . In the 1800s barge-pole was sometimes substituted for ten-foot pole , but that variant has died out.Advertisement
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.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse