keep a foot in both camps

keep a foot in both camps

To maintain involvement with or support for two opposing sides. When my friends split up, I felt like I had to keep a foot in both camps. I've worked with both teams, and I think they both have good ideas. I'd rather keep a foot in both camps than have to pick one over the other.

See also: both, camp, foot, keep

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

*foot in both camps

Fig. an interest in or to support each of two opposing groups of people. (*Typically: get ~; have ~; give someone ~.) The shop steward had been promised a promotion and so had a foot in both camps during the strike—workers and management. Mr. Smith has a foot in both camps in the parent-teacher dispute. He teaches math, but he has a son at the school.

See also: both, camp, foot

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.