rod in pickle
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
a person in a difficult or precarious situation
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
một người trong tình huống khó khăn hoặc nguy hiểm
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a rod or stick in a jar of pickle
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He's a rod in pickle after investing all his money in a failing business
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 “rod in pickle” mean?
a person in a difficult or precarious situation Literally: a rod or stick in a jar of pickle
Is “rod in pickle” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.