take (someone) under (one's) wing

(redirected from take under wing)

take (someone) under (one's) wing

To act as someone's guardian, protector, or mentor, especially someone who is vulnerable or in need of help, protection, or instruction. The social worker has taken countless kids under his wing over the years, and many of them stay in contact with him years later. Diane didn't know anyone when she moved out West, so I took her under my wing for a while and showed her around.

take someone under your wing

COMMON If you take someone under your wing, you start to look after them and make sure that they are well and have what they need. She has taken the youngster under her wing, giving her advice and helping her prepare for the tour. Tanya took me under her wing when I started at the company. Note: The image here is of a hen gathering her chicks under her wing.

take/have somebody under your ˈwing

give somebody help and protection: When new children arrive at the school, she takes them under her wing.

under one's wing, to be/take someone

To be protected or to protect someone. The analogy here is to a hen sheltering her chicks and was drawn as early as the thirteenth century, when it appeared in a Middle English manuscript. A little later, Stephen Hawes wrote (The Example of Virtue, 1510), “Under the wynge of my proteceyon All rebels brought be to subieccyon.”