What is the meaning of needle in a haystack?
informal. : someone or something that is very hard to find Searching for your earring at the park will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
What is like looking for a needle in a haystack?
If you are trying to find something and say that it is like looking for a needle in a haystack, you mean that you are very unlikely indeed to find it.
Is needle in a haystack a metaphor?
An item that is very hard or impossible to locate, as in Looking for that screw in Dean’s workshop amounts to looking for a needle in a haystack. Originating in the early 1500s, with meadow instead of haystack, this metaphor exists in many other languages as well.
What is the explanation of finding that man will be like finding a needle in a haystack?
Looking for a needle in a haystack is a common phrase that means something is difficult to find.
Would a needle stand out in a haystack?
“Looking for a needle in a haystack” is an idiomatic phrase that means trying to do the impossible (or, at least, something very unlikely to succeed). Unless someone is actually looking for a needle in a haystack, to say that he is doing so is an idiomatic way to say he is trying to do the impossible.
What is the opposite of needle in a haystack?
Opposite of something difficult to find. elephant in the room. stick out like a sore thumb. doddle. piece of cake.
How do you use a needle in a haystack?
Examples: “I went into my younger brother’s bedroom to get the CD I lent him. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. His room is so untidy.”
Who found a needle in a haystack?
Sven Sachsalber
Sven Sachsalber, an Italian artist who lives in New York City, is known for playful conceptual art, like sitting in a tree and sawing it apart while still in it, or filming himself eating poisonous mushrooms in the woods. His latest, a jumbo version of a previous exhibit, is a classic: find a needle in a haystack.
How hard would it be to find a needle in a haystack?
The phrase “like finding a needle in a haystack” is a similie — sometimes, the thing we’re in search of is going to be so hard to find, it’s functionally impossible to do so. Literally, though, one rarely worries about needles in haystacks.
Where does the phrase needle in a haystack come from?
needle in a haystack – impossible search for something relatively tiny, lost or hidden in something that is relatively enormous – the first use of this expression, and its likely origin, is by the writer Miguel de Cervantes, in his story Don Quixote de la Mancha written from 1605-1615.
What are the chances of finding a needle in a haystack?
Suppose you had a haystack with one million bits of straw and a needle. Your odds would be one in a million. But what if you keep looking? If you take that straw and throw in back in the stack and keep trying, your odds stay at one in a million.
What does a needle through water mean?
A metal needle or paper clip has higher density that that of water. So when it is dropped into water, it falls down into the bottom of water. However, if we put it horizontally on the water with a lot of caution, it can float almost forever due to the surface tension of water.
What is the best way to find a needle in a haystack?
Probably the fastest way to find the needle is to burn the haystack. Or dumping the hay into a pool of water and waiting for the needle to sink to the bottom would also work. If we were really talking about needles and haystacks, fine – but we’re not.
How do you find a needle in a hay stack?
Another effective method of finding a needle in a haystack is by using a magnet. Metal is attracted strongly to magnet while hay is not and that is something that you will be using to your advantage.
What is the origin of finding a needle in Haystack?
Needle in a haystack’s origin is Arabic. Part of an ancient Arabic proverb. In doing research into the Arabic language and ancient history, I was surprised to find that many of our modern (last couple of centuries) sayings have their origins in old Arabic proverbs.
What is the meaning of needle in the Hay?
needle in a haystack (plural needles in a haystack or needles in haystacks) (idiomatic) something that is difficult or impossible to locate; something impossibly complex or intractable You’ll never find the paper you need on her desk.