leave no stone unturned

Fig. to search in all possible places. (As if one might search under every rock.) Don't worry. We'll find your stolen car. We'll leave no stone unturned. In searching for a nice place to live, we left no stone unturned.

Make every possible effort, use every possible source or resource. For example, To raise ten thousand dollars to keep the shelter open, we must leave no stone unturned. This expression alludes to an ancient Greek legend about a general who buried a large treasure in his tent when he was defeated in battle. Those seeking the treasure consulted the Oracle of Delphi, who advised them to move every stone. The present form dates from the mid-1500s.

COMMON If you leave no stone unturned in your efforts to find something or achieve something, you consider or try every possible way of doing it. In the difficult weeks ahead, we'll leave no stone unturned in our search for a peaceful solution to the crisis. The New Zealand police minister promised that no stone would be left unturned in the hunt for the killer.

To make every possible effort.

To spare no trouble or expense; to make every possible effort. This term actually dates back to a Greek legend recounted by Euripides. One of Xerxes’s generals, Mardonius, was said to have abandoned a great treasure in his tent when he was defeated in the battle of Plataea (477 b.c.). Polycrates of Thebes looked for the treasure but could not find it, and turned to the Oracle of Delphi for advice. The oracle replied, “Move every stone,” which Erasmus later translated as, “Leave no stone unturned.” Of the many repetitions over the centuries, one of the most amusing is Ogden Nash’s, “When I throw rocks at seabirds, I leave no tern unstoned.”