out from under

1. Free from difficulties, especially from a burden of debts or work. For example, They've been using credit cards for everything and don't know how they'll get out from under, or We have loads of mail to answer, but we'll soon get out from under. This idiom uses under in the sense of “in a position of subjection.” [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

It skidded out from under her; the next thing she knew, she was sprawled on the cobblestones of Muffinshire Lane.

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The playoffs would he held in late May, moving them out from under the shadow of the NFL and college football seasons.

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The hedge fund investor at the heart of a scandal that damaged B. Riley Financial has been charged with criminal fraud as the West L.A. company continues efforts to dig out from under the debacle.

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That pulled the rug out from under transgender and nonbinary Americans, some of whom filed suit.

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“If the goal is addressing beef prices at the grocery store, this isn’t the way. Right now, government intervention in the beef market will hurt our cattle ranchers,” she wrote on X. “Nebraska’s ranchers cannot afford to have the rug pulled out from under them when they’re just getting ahead or simply breaking even.”

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