висеть на ниточке

• ВИСЕТЬ <ДЕРЖАТЬСЯ>/ПОВИСНУТЬ НА ВОЛОСКЕ <НА НИТОЧКЕ, НА НИТКЕ>

[VP; subj: human or abstr, often жизнь; if subj: human, usu. one's life or career is involved]

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⇒ to be in a perilous position or condition, be threatened by imminent danger, ruin, or death:

- X висит на волоске{{}}≈ X is hanging by a thread;

- person X is within a hairbreadth (a hairsbreadth etc) of death;

- person X is on the brink of death;

- [in limited contexts] X is within a hairbreadth of disaster (ruin);

- X is on the brink of disaster (ruin);

- thing X is touch and go.

     ♦ Долгое время жизнь князя висела на волоске (Окуджава 2). His [the prince's] life hung by a thread for a long time (2a).

     ♦ "Жить в городе стало невозможно, скажите спасибо вашему Голему - кстати, вы знаете, что Голем - скрытый коммунист?.. Да-да, уверяю вас, есть материалы... он на ниточке висит, ваш Голем..." (Стругацкие 1). "It's impossible to live in this town, for which you can say thank you to your buddy Golem - incidentally, are you aware of his Communist leanings? Yes, I assure you, we have evidence; he's hanging by a thread, your Golem" (1a).

     ♦ [Елена Федотовна:] Ты обострил с ним отношения?.. Ах, молчишь... Ты повис на волоске! (Салынский 1). [E.F:] You've spoilt your relations with him? Why don't you answer?...You are on the brink of disaster! (1a).

     ♦ ...Мне претила ложь и скука старой семьи, и я участвовала в её разрушении. Выход я нашла в свободном союзе. Случайно мой опыт удался, но всё всегда висело на волоске (Мандельштам 2). ...Repelled by the hypocrisy and tedium of conventional family life, I helped to undermine it...by seeking my own solution in a free union based on love, not marriage. It so happens that in my particular case it succeeded - though it was very much always touch and go (2a).

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← From the story of Damocles, courtier of the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius in classical mythology. At a banquet, Dionysius had Damocles seated under a sword suspended by a single hair to show him how precarious power and the ruler's happiness were.