Chunk: borrow from Peter to pay Paul
Meaning & Usage
Borrow from Peter to pay Paul (also frequently phrased as robbing Peter to pay Paul) means to discharge one debt, obligation, or shortfall by incurring another, merely transferring liabilities rather than resolving them. It describes an unsustainable cycle of financial juggling or temporary resource reallocation.
🧲 Common Collocates
- Syntactic Variations: borrow from Peter to pay Paul, borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, rob Peter to pay Paul.
- Characteristic Domains: Personal credit management, corporate debt restructuring, government budget deficits, resource allocation emergencies.
💬 Contextual Examples
- Using a high-interest credit card to pay off your mortgage is just borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.
- The city council's decision to siphon funds from public parks to patch municipal deficits is classic borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.
- You cannot achieve balance-sheet solvency simply by rotating short-term loans; that is merely borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.
🎴 Interactive Web Practice
Practice 1: Relying on a payday advance to settle an overdue utility bill is simply borrowing from Peter to pay ______.
Answer:
Paul Practice 2: Diverting funding from the education budget to cover infrastructure cost overruns is borrowing from ______ to pay Paul.
Answer:
Peter Practice 3: Consolidating debt without controlling operational spending is just ______ from Peter to pay Paul.
Answer:
borrowing 🔗 Knowledge Base Connections
- 🔑 Parent Node: Borrow
- ⚖️ Related Discrimination: borrow-vs-lend