give them an inch and they'll take a mile

谚语

英文释义

谚语
  1. Granting someone a limited concession will encourage them to take greater liberties.
    — O the tyranny of aristocracy!—give it a furlong, and it will take a mile,—a veto stopped me once from going to Brussels: and now comes a Lettre de cachet ordering me to Paris.

词形变化

give someone an inch and someone will take a mile alternative

词源

A modified variant of the expression give them an inch and they'll take an ell, adjusted for the obsolescence of the ell due to the standardization of the imperial system.
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