run with scissors
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run with scissors (third-person singular simple present runs with scissors, present participle running with scissors, simple past ran with scissors, past participle run with scissors)
- (idiomatic) To behave recklessly.
- 2005, Bob Wallace, Flying with Scissors: A Different Perspective on Childhood, page 48:
- Maybe instead of overprotecting, we should allow Katie, and the thousands other childhood cancer survivors like her, to play in traffic, run with scissors, and walk blindfolded with suckers sticking out of their mouths! Right?
- 2008, Andrew Gideon, Harrier Hawks Fly High, page 6:
- It is dangerous, dumb, and highly delinquent (CRAZY) for a professional educator to goad our poor little misunderstood and hormonally-challenged children to run with scissors.
- 2010, Roger Allen Cook, Into Deeper Grace, Xulon Press, page 148:
- I wonder if God has made a note on your record and mine that says; “he tends to run with scissors, but I've got him covered by My grace”. Perhaps your scissors thing is; getting too busy to spend time in the world, or getting too interested in the business of others, or perhaps allowing the world to set up wrong priorities in your life.
- 2012, Scott Gesinger, Pleiades Rising, page 88:
- “No. That happened when I was a kid. I was playing at a neighbor’s house, running around with a knife.” […] “Holy shit. Mister responsible undercover government badass was the kid who ran with scissors!”
- (idiomatic) To take a calculated risk.
- 1998 June, Jim Gorman, “Get out!”, in Backpacker, page 67:
- Fly solo. Sure, it’s safer to go with a partner, but every once in awhile you have to run with scissors.
- 2011, Ron Henchel, The Guilty Mirror, page 81:
- I'm a firm believer that we should all “run with scissors” from time to time.
- 2019, Jacqueline N. Font-Guzmán, “Educating in complex times: an introduction”, in J. Moss Breen, H. Abduljawad, J.N. Font-Guzmán, editors, Running with Scissors: Leading in Uncertainty, page 94:
- The leadership stories show how leaders can “run with scissors” in uncertain spaces as they engage in self-reflection, flexibility, systems thinking, shared leadership, charisma, and teamwork to successfully lead.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see run, scissors.