close call
1. A narrow escape from or avoidance of a situation, often an unfavorable or dangerous one. It was a close call, but I managed to avoid hitting the deer that ran directly in front of my car. I had a close call this morning when a tractor trailer unexpectedly swerved into my lane. Boy, that was a close call! That cop almost caught us!
2. A decision or judgment that is difficult to make due to each possibility being nearly equal in one's consideration. I'm sorry, it really was a close call, but we've decided to go with another candidate for this position. It was a close call, let me assure you. The judges deliberated for a very long time before agreeing on a winner. Wait, I'm only allowed to bring back two of my five interns? How am I supposed to make a close call like that?
3. A contest or competition whose winner is not clear due to very close competition or results that are difficult to distinguish. With the two candidates having nearly equal amounts of delegates, this election is going to be a very close call. The two teams are elite and evenly matched, so it's a really close call. I genuinely don't know which one will win. I don't know who will end up getting the funding—it's a close call between our department and theirs.
close shave
A narrow escape from or avoidance of a situation, often an unfavorable or dangerous one. I had a close shave this morning when a tractor trailer unexpectedly swerved into my lane. Boy, that was a close shave! That cop almost caught us! It was a close shave, but I managed to avoid hitting the deer that ran directly in front of my car.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
close call
Also,
close shave. Narrow escape, near miss. For example,
That skier just missed the tree-what a close call, or
That was a close shave, nearly leaving your passport behind. The first phrase dates from the late 1800s and comes from sports, alluding to an official's decision (
call) that could have gone either way. The second, from the early 1800s, alludes to the narrow margin between closely shaved skin and a razor cut. (This latter usage replaced the much earlier equation of a
close shave with miserliness, based on the idea that a close shave by a barber meant one would not have to spend money on another shave quite so soon.) Also see
too close for comfort.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
close call/shave, a
A narrow escape, a near miss. Both phrases are originally American. The first dates from the 1880s and is thought to come from sports, where a close call was a decision by an umpire or referee that could have gone either way. A close shave is from the early nineteenth century and reflects the narrow margin between smoothly shaved skin and a nasty cut from the razor. Both were transferred to mean any narrow escape from danger. Incidentally, a close shave was in much earlier days equated with miserliness. Erasmus’s 1523 collection of adages has it, “He shaves right to the quick,” meaning he makes the barber give him a very close shave so that he will not need another for some time. Two synonymous modern clichés are too close for comfort and too close to home.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer