not hold water
To not be or not appear to be true, verifiable, or able to be supported by facts. The image is of a container with holes in it—a metaphor for a position or argument containing "holes" (errors or gaps in reasoning). I'm afraid that excuse just doesn't hold water with me—you still should have had plenty of time to complete the assignment and print it. That old claim has been debunked so many time that it just does not hold water any more.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
won't hold water
to be inadequate, insubstantial, or ill-conceived. Sorry, your ideas won't hold water. Nice try, though. The prosecution's case wouldn't hold water, so the defendant was released.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.