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self-licking ice cream cone

self-licking ice cream cone
 n.— Â«For grateful military leaders, there was merit in reinforcement for its own sake. One senior general compared the existing force to a “self-licking ice cream cone”—so small and weak that it consumed most of its resources in the effort to supply and defend itself.» â€”“Deadline Squeezes Somalia Mission” by Barton Gellman San Francisco Chronicle (California) Oct. 8, 1993. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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