# have the wolf by the ear

> English word · Verb

## Definitions
1. To be in a dangerous situation from which one cannot disengage, but in which one cannot safely remain.

## Etymology
Initially attributed to Roman Emperor Tiberius circa year 1 AD by biographer C. Suetonius Tranquillus.
United States, 1820, Thomas Jefferson, writing about the institution of slavery and the Missouri Compromise:
: "But, as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other."
:: — Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes (discussing slavery and the Missouri question), Monticello, 22 April 1820

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/have-the-wolf-by-the-ear