broken reed
nounEtymology From broken + reed (with reference to the quotation in 1611, see below).
1
Idiomatic Something or someone very fragile or unreliable.
- Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 36:6:
- Many of the big estates survived. Nor was the peasantry a broken reed in terms of demand for manufactured products.2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 543:
1 more example
- A law on privacy would be cumbersome and hard to police, but as the Press Complaints Commission is a broken reed in this matter, each scandal makes it harder to stave off calls for legislation.2011 July 5, Simon Jenkins, The Guardian:
- Related terms
- slender reed