not a leg to stand on

not a leg to stand on

No evidence, support, or justification for one's position, argument, or actions. Unfortunately, the entire study was just retracted by the medical journal, and now my thesis has not a leg to stand on. It's clear the prosecution doesn't have any valid evidence. Speculation is not a leg to stand on in a criminal trial!

See also: leg, not, on, stand, to

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

leg to stand on, doesn't have a/not a/without a

To have no chance of success. This metaphor, which dates from the sixteenth century, applies the lack of physical support to an argument or hypothesis. The Elizabethan satirist Thomas Nashe (The Unfortunate Traveller, 1594) stated, “Faine he would have pacht out a polt-foot tale, but (God knows) it had not one true leg to stand on.”

See also: have, leg, not, stand, to, without

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer