save the furniture

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To salvage what is most valuable or important in a difficult situation.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Cứu được điều quý giá nhất trong tình huống khó khăn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: protect household items
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The company had to save the furniture by cutting staff to stay afloat.

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 “save the furniture” mean?

To salvage what is most valuable or important in a difficult situation. Literally: protect household items

Is “save the furniture” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.