between the hammer and the anvil

EnglishEdit

Referring to the metal on a blacksmith's anvil, which is beaten with a hammer.

(idiomatic) With the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options; in a predicament or quandary.
- 1848, Jean Henri Merle d'Aubigné, The Protector, a vindication (page 250)
  Yet for a time the nation was again placed between the democracy of the levellers and the despotism of the Stuarts, — between the hammer and the anvil.
- 1990, Judas Priest, Between The Hammer and the Anvil
  The sinner / Will testify / They'll suffer / When sacrificed on high / The burning sermons purge their evil words / Between the hammer and the anvil

with the choice between two unpleasant or distasteful options