too many irons in the fire
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
More affairs in hand than you can properly attend to. The allusion is to a smithy where the smith has a number of irons heating to red heat.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “too many irons in the fire” mean?
More affairs in hand than you can properly attend to. The allusion is to a smithy where the smith has a number of irons heating to red heat.
Is “too many irons in the fire” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.