between the devil and the deep blue sea
between the devil and the deep blue sea prepositional phrase: between undesirable alternatives.
Prepositional phrase
- Between undesirable alternatives.
- Talking about the old Players' Union, it reminds me that at one meeting we had, a player stated that if a club had a horse they wanted to part with, some one would have to find the horse in fodder until the negotiations were finished. A player is during that time between the devil and the deep blue...1908, John Cameron, Association Football and How to Play It, Chapter 11
- “I hope it's a funny hangin',” said Skeeter, serious again. “'Pears to me that it's a even bet whether I get hung or killed with a bullet. Kinda between the devil and the deep blue sea, as my dad used to say. I ain't got much choice, I reckon, unless it is to get out of town, and I hates to be...1922, W. C. Tuttle, The Spark of Skeeter Bill
- Synonyms:
- between a rock and a hard place, between Scylla and Charybdis, between the hammer and the anvil, between two fires, damned if one does and damned if one doesn't, doomed if you do, doomed if you don't, in a cleft stick, in bad bread, on the horns of a dilemma
Examples of between the devil and the deep blue sea in a sentence
- A player is during that time between the devil and the deep blue sea, and has to entirely support himself during that period, and I have known many excellent players give up the game for this reason.1908, John Cameron, Association Football and How to Play It, Chapter 11:
- Kinda between the devil and the deep blue sea, as my dad used to say.1922, W. C. Tuttle, The Spark of Skeeter Bill:
Synonyms of between the devil and the deep blue sea
- between a rock and a hard place
- between Scylla and Charybdis
- between the hammer and the anvil
- between two fires
- damned if one does and damned if one doesn't
- doomed if you do
- doomed if you don't
- on the horns of a dilemma
- in a cleft stick
- in bad bread
Forms of between the devil and the deep blue sea
| alternative form | betwixt the devil and the deep blue sea |
|---|---|
| alternative form | the devil and the deep blue sea |
Questions about between the devil and the deep blue sea
- What does between the devil and the deep blue sea mean?
- Between the devil and the deep blue sea means between undesirable alternatives.
- How do you use between the devil and the deep blue sea in a sentence?
- A player is during that time between the devil and the deep blue sea, and has to entirely support himself during that period, and I have known many excellent players give up the game for this reason.
- What part of speech is between the devil and the deep blue sea?
- Between the devil and the deep blue sea is a prepositional phrase.
Words near between the devil and the deep blue sea in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: between the devil and the deep blue sea (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.ogg.
Cite this entry: “between the devil and the deep blue sea.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/between_the_devil_and_the_deep_blue_sea. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.