not touch with a ten-foot pole

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  Play

Sense 1 attested in 1846; sense 2 in 1844.

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Chinese Mandarin: 唯恐避之不及 — to avoid at all costs
• Danish: ikke røre med en ildtang — to avoid at all costs
• Finnish: olla koskematta pitkällä tikullakaan — to avoid at all costs
• French: éviter à tout prix — to avoid at all costs
• German: nicht einmal mit der Kneifzange anfassen — to avoid at all costs
• Hungarian: bottal sem piszkálná meg — to avoid at all costs
• Italian: essere come il diavolo e l'acqua santa — to avoid at all costs
• Polish: unikać za wszelką cenę — to avoid at all costs
• Russian: обходи́ть за версту́ (obxodítʹ za verstú) — to avoid at all costs
• Spanish: no tocar ni con un palo — to avoid at all costs
• Swedish: inte ta i med tång — to avoid at all costs