"over one's skis" meaning in English

See over one's skis in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Etymology: Per Noreen Malone’s article in the Intelligencer: “the phrase’s metaphorical use seems to have begun in the finance world. Its first non-skiing print usages came in the early nineties, in publications like Investment Dealers’ Digest. For instance, a 1991 article quoted a “market source” describing a race between Goldman Sachs’ and Lehman Bros.’ preferred stock desk. “Someone said [Lehman] couldn’t get a clean legal opinion on it. They may have been out over their skis a little bit with their structure.”” https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2012/05/where-did-the-phrase-over-his-skis-come-from.html As in skiing, the person in question has taken a position from which they must quickly back away. Taking a position that one lacks the ability to maintain. Quite normal in skiing, but costly in other fields. Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} over one's skis, {{en-prep phrase}} over one's skis
  1. (idiomatic) Acting or speaking prematurely; getting ahead of oneself. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: out over one's skis, in front of one's skis, ahead of one's skis
    Sense id: en-over_one's_skis-en-prep_phrase-Cjt-evXB Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for over one's skis meaning in English (2.2kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "Per Noreen Malone’s article in the Intelligencer: “the phrase’s metaphorical use seems to have begun in the finance world. Its first non-skiing print usages came in the early nineties, in publications like Investment Dealers’ Digest. For instance, a 1991 article quoted a “market source” describing a race between Goldman Sachs’ and Lehman Bros.’ preferred stock desk. “Someone said [Lehman] couldn’t get a clean legal opinion on it. They may have been out over their skis a little bit with their structure.””\nhttps://nymag.com/intelligencer/2012/05/where-did-the-phrase-over-his-skis-come-from.html\nAs in skiing, the person in question has taken a position from which they must quickly back away. Taking a position that one lacks the ability to maintain. Quite normal in skiing, but costly in other fields.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "over one's skis",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "over one's skis",
      "name": "en-prep phrase"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2016 September 5, Nick Bromberg, “Jim Harbaugh: ESPN commentator ‘way out over his skis’ speculating on player suspension”, in Yahoo Sports, retrieved 2016-12-13",
          "text": "[T]he Michigan coach said Cunningham was “way out over his skis” in projecting that Lewis’ absence was due to more than a minor injury.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Acting or speaking prematurely; getting ahead of oneself."
      ],
      "id": "en-over_one's_skis-en-prep_phrase-Cjt-evXB",
      "links": [
        [
          "Acting",
          "act"
        ],
        [
          "speak",
          "speak"
        ],
        [
          "prematurely",
          "prematurely"
        ],
        [
          "getting ahead of oneself",
          "get ahead of oneself"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Acting or speaking prematurely; getting ahead of oneself."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "out over one's skis"
        },
        {
          "word": "in front of one's skis"
        },
        {
          "word": "ahead of one's skis"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "over one's skis"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Per Noreen Malone’s article in the Intelligencer: “the phrase’s metaphorical use seems to have begun in the finance world. Its first non-skiing print usages came in the early nineties, in publications like Investment Dealers’ Digest. For instance, a 1991 article quoted a “market source” describing a race between Goldman Sachs’ and Lehman Bros.’ preferred stock desk. “Someone said [Lehman] couldn’t get a clean legal opinion on it. They may have been out over their skis a little bit with their structure.””\nhttps://nymag.com/intelligencer/2012/05/where-did-the-phrase-over-his-skis-come-from.html\nAs in skiing, the person in question has taken a position from which they must quickly back away. Taking a position that one lacks the ability to maintain. Quite normal in skiing, but costly in other fields.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "over one's skis",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "over one's skis",
      "name": "en-prep phrase"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English prepositional phrases",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2016 September 5, Nick Bromberg, “Jim Harbaugh: ESPN commentator ‘way out over his skis’ speculating on player suspension”, in Yahoo Sports, retrieved 2016-12-13",
          "text": "[T]he Michigan coach said Cunningham was “way out over his skis” in projecting that Lewis’ absence was due to more than a minor injury.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Acting or speaking prematurely; getting ahead of oneself."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Acting",
          "act"
        ],
        [
          "speak",
          "speak"
        ],
        [
          "prematurely",
          "prematurely"
        ],
        [
          "getting ahead of oneself",
          "get ahead of oneself"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Acting or speaking prematurely; getting ahead of oneself."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "out over one's skis"
    },
    {
      "word": "in front of one's skis"
    },
    {
      "word": "ahead of one's skis"
    }
  ],
  "word": "over one's skis"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (1d5a7d1 and 304864d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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