at arm's length
At a distance, away from one's bodyAt a distance, away from one's body.
» She keeps him at arm's length these days.
Сейчас она держит его на расстоянии. — shanghainese
Она держит его на расстоянии вытянутой руки в эти дни. — Lenin_1917
CM · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRTranslations
4 languagesExamples
2 sentencesShe keeps him at arm's length these days.
ruСейчас она держит его на расстоянии. — shanghainese
I try to keep her at arm's length.
Meaning
2 sensesAt a distance, away from one's body.
(idiomatic)Avoiding a close relationship.
She's been keeping me at arm's length all the time. She doesn't want to get involved.
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.