hang in the balance
To be perilously close to failing, depending on the outcome of something. The court is just about to issue its verdict, and our company's future is hanging in the balance. Her life hung in the balance as medics rushed her to the hospital. I'm afraid that my scholarship hangs in the balance now that I've been accused of plagiarizing a paper.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
hang in the balance
Be in a precarious condition or in a state of suspense. For example, The doctor said her life was hanging in the balance. This expression alludes to the suspended balance scale where an object is placed in one pan and weights are added one by one to the other pan until the two are balanced. [First half of 1400s]
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.
hang in the balance
A state of doubt or suspense regarding the outcome of something. The balance referred to is the old weighing device in which an object to be weighed is put in one pan and weights of known quantity are added one by one to the other pan, until the two are balanced. The unknown weight here is fate—that is, the outcome. The expression dates at least from the fifteenth century; it appeared in John Lydgate’s translation of the Fall of Princes (1430) and has been used ever since.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer