millstone around one's neck
a millstone around (one's) neck
An extremely difficult or disadvantageous burden or hindrance. I wish I hadn't bought that house—the mortgage is a millstone around my neck. Given the advisor's laundry list of scandals, he's proving to be quite a millstone around the candidate's neck.
See also: around, millstone, neck
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
millstone around one's neck
A heavy burden, as in Julie finds Grandma, who is crabby, a millstone around her neck. The literal hanging of a millstone about the neck is mentioned as a punishment in the New Testament (Matthew 18:6), causing the miscreant to be drowned. Its present figurative use was first recorded in a history of the Quakers (c. 1720).
See also: around, millstone, neck
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
- a millstone around (one's) neck
- a millstone around your neck
- a millstone around/round somebody's neck
- a millstone round your neck
- millstone about neck
- a millstone about (one's) neck
- a millstone round (one's) neck
- round
- dig (oneself) in(to) a hole
- dig yourself into a hole