skin an eel by the tail

skin an eel by the tail

To do something in an ill-advised way. Why are you skinning an eel by the tail? You know you can't back out of the driveway until you clear all that snow out of the way!

See also: an, by, eel, skin, tail

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.