juggle

a juggling act

A particularly difficult and precarious situation in which several things are being attempted or must be maintained at the same time. I think I need to hire an assistant, because keeping track of all these accounts and transactions on my own has become quite a juggling act!
See also: act, juggle

juggle around

1. To move one or more people or things into different positions, especially in order to accommodate other people or things. A noun or pronoun can be used between "juggle" and "around." We'll need to juggle around some of the seating arrangements to fit the new attendees. Even though we had assigned seats for the flight, they kept juggling us around at the last minute.
2. To reschedule various appointments or events to different times or dates, especially in order to accommodate someone or something. A noun or pronoun can be used between "juggle" and "around." I'll have to juggle some things around, but I should be able to fit you in for a checkup on Monday. We'll need to juggle around some of the musical acts to have enough time for the fireworks display.
See also: around, juggle
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

juggle someone or something around

to alter the position or sequence of someone or something. We will juggle everyone around so that the second round of interviews are in a different order. I think I can juggle my schedule around so I can have lunch with you. Please juggle around my appointments for this afternoon so I can have a late lunch.
See also: around, juggle
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

keep balls in the air

or

juggle balls in the air

If you keep a lot of balls in the air, you deal with many different things at the same time. They had trouble keeping all their balls in the air. In management terms, they were trying to do too much and things were starting to break down. I really am juggling a hundred balls in the air at the same time and it isn't easy. Note: This expression uses the image of juggling, where someone has to keep throwing and catching a number of balls at the same time.
See also: air, ball, keep
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

a ˈbalancing/ˈjuggling act

a process in which somebody tries to please two or more people or groups who want different things: The UN must perform a delicate balancing act between the different sides involved in the conflict.
See also: act, balance, juggle
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • a juggling act
  • in a sticky situation
  • be in a sticky situation
  • a sticky situation
  • sticky
  • pull (one's) chestnuts out of the fire
  • pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire
  • on hire
  • for hire
  • hire
References in periodicals archive
"My cousin juggles but it's really helped me learn that I have to do a figure eight instead of a circle with the balls," she says.
Juggling isn't just about clowning around
As I encountered Juggle's various flaws, I kept mentally comparing it to Infoplease (www.infoplease.com), another general reference source for commonly sought information.
'Handle with care' databases
It takes a lot of practice to learn how to juggle, and even more practice to get good at it.
Now juggle!
(4) "Cosmo" Roberts of Clinton juggles five balls while bouncing them off the floor and balancing on a roller board.
Things are looking up for juggling club; Continuing education course leads to hobby that's a workout
"Once you've learned to juggle, and you're able to juggle without really thinking about it, that's when it becomes a meditative practice, an experience of relaxed concentration."
Relax When Too Many Things Are Up in the Air
In your career you have more than likely attended a seminar or two on prioritizing or you may have even attended a course on how to juggle multiple projects.
Juggling act maintain diligence when managing projects and properties
A driver must not answer his mobile phone or eat an apple, but he may juggle his pack of smokes, fiddle with his car lighter, gas lighter, or matches, then manage his cigarette with live ash while juggling the steering wheel and gear stick.
Burning issue
We all juggle obligations and opportunities, whether we work in or outside the home.
How to "do it all": striking the perfect balance between family and work seems an ever-elusive goal, but this Mother's Day could be a time for working parents to discern their priorities--and to look for help and support in their prayer and faith lives
Someone recognizes that we all have to juggle our loyalties to our employer, our clients, our profession, those around us and ourselves (see the juggling chart on page 29 of her book).
Taking an ethical stand with your public relations strategy
The book-of-life concept also allows for all sorts of diversions along the way, including the Flying K staple of having the audience challenge one of the men to juggle a trio of unorthodox objects (an umbrella, a backpack and a woman's shoe, for example).
Life: a Guide for the Perplexed (Convention Edition)
In a recent study by scientists in Germany, people who spent three months learning to juggle showed enlargement of part of the cerebral, cortex, the sheet of nerve cells on the brain's surface where most higher thought processes seem to be handled.
Mental push-ups, anyone?
No joke: Learning to juggle can cause changes in human brain structure, say researchers at the University of Regensburg in Germany.
No clowning around
Learning to juggle is a neat trick for the brain as well as the hands.
Juggling takes stage as brain modifier
Every day he would go to Signor Baptista's fruit and vegetable stall and juggle.
Heavenly Juggler
He could juggle! He joined a group of traveling players and became famous throughout Italy as the little juggler with the face of a clown.
The Clown of God. (Legend Award Winner)