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when the chips are down
Idioms and Phrases
When a situation is urgent or desperate, as in When the chips were down, all the children came home to help their mother . This expression comes from poker, where chips represent money being bet. When all the bets have been made, and the chips put down, the hand is over and the players turn up their cards to see who has won. [Late 1800s]Example Sentences
When the chips are down and they need a big performance, this frail mentality shows itself again.
They may lie all the time, but when the chips are down, they gaslight.
When the chips are down — when he can’t get a solo career off the ground or a regular gig — Slick checks his ego and sells timeshares to make ends meet.
And we have both found comfort in the companionship of cats, known for self-sufficiency but also, quiet as it’s kept, quite loving and dependable when the chips are down.
He also has Galvin, who might be a better pick when the chips are down.
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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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