make bricks without straw






make bricks without straw

try to accomplish something without proper or adequate material, equipment or information

The allusion here is to Exodus 5 : 6 – 19 where without straw meant without having straw provided as the Israelites were required to gather straw for themselves in order to make the bricks required by their Egyptian taskmasters. A misinterpretation has led to the current sense.




Related Idioms and Phrases :



a breed apart

a kind of person or thing that is very different from the norm



a dying breed

A kind of person that is slowly disappearing.



a brick short of a load

(of a person) stupid – informal

This is one of a number of humorous variations on the theme of someone not possessing their proper share of brains or intelligence



come down like a ton of bricks

exert crushing weight, force or authority against someone - informal



come up against a brick wall = hit a brick wall

encounter an insuperable problem or obstacle while trying to do something.




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