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up the creek

   Also found in: Acronyms, Wikipedia 0.02 sec.
up the creek (without a paddle) and up a creek; up shit creek
Inf. Fig. in an awkward position with no easy way out. I'm sort of up the creek and don't know what to do. You are up a creek! You got yourself into it, so get yourself out.
See also: creek, up

up the creek (without a paddle) also up a creek
in an extremely difficult situation All those people who have money invested in it are going to be up the creek.
Etymology: based on the idea of being in a small boat in a stream and not having a paddle (short pole with a wide, flat part) with which to move it
See also: creek, up


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? References in classic literature
I went straight into the water without a minute's hesitation, wading up the creek, and presently finding myself kneedeep in a little stream.
But we found afterwards that we need not take such pains for water, for a little higher up the creek where we were we found the water fresh when the tide was out, which flowed but a little way up; so we filled our jars, and feasted on the hare he had killed, and prepared to go on our way, having seen no footsteps of any human creature in that part of the country.
 
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