pour oil on troubled waters

English

Etymology

From the practice of the ancients to pour oil on the sea waves to calm them.

Verb

pour oil on troubled waters

  1. (idiomatic) To calm something or someone who is tenacious or misbehaving.
    I better go pour oil on those troubled waters the children are making over there.

Translations

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.