rob Peter to pay Paul

Cultural  

1. To harm one person in order to do good to another; by extension, to use money or resources set aside for one purpose for a different one.

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rob Peter to pay Paul Idioms  

1. Take from one to give to another, shift resources. For example, They took out a second mortgage on their house so they could buy a condo in Florida—they're robbing Peter to pay Paul. Although legend has it that this expression alludes to appropriating the estates of St. Peter's Church, in Westminster, London, to pay for the repairs of St. Paul's Cathedral in the 1800s, the saying first appeared in a work by John Wycliffe about 1382.

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Example Sentences

She also used warm hubs, but found she still had "to rob Peter to pay Paul during some months" in order to cover rent and other household bills.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2024

But what if, instead of believing that most of us must eternally "rob Peter to pay Paul," we imagine a world in which everyone was in and no one out?

From Salon • Sep. 16, 2022

The ripple effect will be significant as they rob Peter to pay Paul, perhaps moving Dee Gordon to second base but then leaving issues in the outfield.

From Seattle Times • May 15, 2018

Downgrading art programs in favor of science and history, he implies, means you can rob Peter to pay Paul and Paulette.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 23, 2017

Spoken of unprofitable persons, who in the English proverb, "rob Peter to pay Paul."

From Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character by Ramsay, Edward Bannerman