the straw that broke the camel's back
A small and seemingly insignificant addition to a burden that renders it too much to bearA small and seemingly insignificant addition to a burden that renders it too much to bear; the small thing which causes failure, or causes inability or unwillingness to endure any more of something.
» Throw the ball back to me.
Wirf mir den Ball zurück! — Tamy
Брось мяч мне назад. — sharptoothed
Кинь мені м'яч назад. — deniko
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 senses(idiomatic)A small and seemingly insignificant addition to a burden that renders it too much to bear; the small thing which causes failure, or causes inability or unwillingness to endure any more of something.
der Tropfen, der das Fass zum Überlaufen bringt
ка́пля, перепо́лнившая ча́шуkáplja, perepólnivšaja čášu
Examples
2610 sentencesThrow the ball back to me.
Кинь мені м'яч назад. — deniko
ruБрось мяч мне назад. — sharptoothed
deWirf mir den Ball zurück! — Tamy
Tom turned the light back on.
Том знову включив світло. — deniko
ruТом включил свет обратно. — Ooneykcall
deTom machte das Licht wieder an. — Yorwba
Tom is sitting in the back.
Том сидить позаду. — deniko
Give yourself a pat on the back.
Візьми з полки пиріжок. — deniko
I'll bring the book back to you tomorrow.
Я поверну тобі цю книгу завтра. — uaspeaker
ruЯ верну тебе эту книгу завтра. — Hellerick
Translations
8 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
Possibly from the proverb, recorded by Thomas Fuller in his Gnomologia (1732) as “’Tis thePossibly from the proverb, recorded by Thomas Fuller in his Gnomologia (1732) as “’Tis the last Feather, that breaks the Horse’s Back.” This comes from an Arab proverb about loading up a camel beyond its capacity to move.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: the straw that broke the camel's backs| Singular | the straw that broke the camel's back |
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| Plural | the straw that broke the camel's backs |
regular