phrase
Meaning 1
Hyperbole to illustrate something that is impossible to do or to make happen.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic
Examples
- Getting George to wake up before 7 o'clock is harder than getting a camel through the eye of a needle.
- 1795, John Swanwick (as "Snub"), "To WILLIAM WILCOCKS, Esquire, L. L. D. and DUke of New-York, &c.", in A Rub from Snub; or a cursory analytical epistle, page 57, quoting Wilcocks in the first footnote. Alluding to the exordium of his writings against the democrats, wherein he says “ It is a difficult for a party-man to be an honest man, as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,” whereby he most emphatically declares his own dishonesty at the very first dash of his pen.
- 1825, "Sir H. L.", in The Political Correspondence of the Leading Members of Parliament with the the Speaker of the House of Commons on Emancipation, James Bigg (publ.), page 83. You are endeavouring to pass a bill that never can and that never will pass the House of Lords. Do you want to make a camel go through the eye of a needle?
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided