put one's finger in the dyke
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Make a small effort to stop a larger problem
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
cố gắng ngăn chặn một vấn đề lớn bằng một nỗ lực nhỏ
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: plug a hole in a dam with one's finger
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The manager put her finger in the dyke by hiring temporary staff to meet the deadline
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “put one's finger in the dyke” mean?
Make a small effort to stop a larger problem Literally: plug a hole in a dam with one's finger
Is “put one's finger in the dyke” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.