take someone’s legs off
v. phr.— «At home the former professional golfer wants to build a multi-million pound indoor golf facility in the region—a project he tried to develop five years ago only to have his planning application rejected in favour of a new training ground for Newcastle United. “Newcastle United came in late and, to use a footballing term, they took our legs off.”» —“Golf supremo has come a fair way” by Andrew Mernin nebusiness.co.uk (United Kingdom) Oct. 22, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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Sure, there’s winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dramatic burst of green after a long, dark winter. And there are many, many terms for a cold snap...