Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.79 in modern English

Syllables
pul-l -some-one's ch-est-nut-s out of the -fire
IPA
51
Scrabble Score
33
Letters
8
Syllables
14
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

Synonym of pull someone's bacon out of the fire (“rescue someone, especially at the last moment”).

verb

To do another person's difficult work.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Calque of French tirer les marrons du feu, which comes from the fable The Monkey and the Cat by Jean de la Fontaine.

Inflected Forms

pulls someone's chestnuts out of the fire (present, singular) pulling someone's chestnuts out of the fire (participle, present) pulled someone's chestnuts out of the fire (participle, past) pulled someone's chestnuts out of the fire (past)

Phrases

cat's-paw

Frequently Paired Words

cat's-paw

Synonyms

pull someone's bacon out of the fire

Questions

What does pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire mean?
Synonym of pull someone's bacon out of the fire (“rescue someone, especially at the last moment”).
Where does pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire come from?
Calque of French tirer les marrons du feu, which comes from the fable The Monkey and the Cat by Jean de la Fontaine.

How to pronounce pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire

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