rob Peter to pay Paul

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Unknown. Sometimes claimed to refer to Church taxes paid to Westminster Abbey (originally called Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster) that were sent to repair St. Paul's Cathedral in the mid 1500s, though records exist of the phrase since about 1450.

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Chinese Mandarin: 拆東牆,補西牆 /拆东墙 — to use resources producing no net gain
• Chinese Mandarin: 补西墙 (chāi dōngqiáng bǔ xīqiáng) — to use resources producing no net gain
• Czech: vytkloukat klín klínem — to use resources producing no net gain
• Danish: give med den ene hånd og tage med den anden — to use resources producing no net gain
• Danish: tage fra den ene og give til den anden — to use resources producing no net gain
• Dutch: vestzak-broekzakoperatie — to use resources producing no net gain
• Finnish: siirtää rahaa taskusta toiseen — to use resources producing no net gain
• French: déshabiller Pierre pour habiller Paul — to use resources producing no net gain
• Galician: desvestir un santo para vestir outro — to use resources producing no net gain
• Polish: zabrać jednemu, żeby dać drugiemu — to use resources producing no net gain
• Portuguese: despir um santo para vestir outro — to use resources producing no net gain
• Swedish: ge med den ena handen och ta med den andra — to use resources producing no net gain
• Urdu: احمد کی پگڑی محمود کے سر پر (ahmad kī pagṛī mahmūd ke sir par) — to use resources producing no net gain