WHIP THE DEVIL AROUND THE STUMP


Meaning of WHIP THE DEVIL AROUND THE STUMP in English

phrasal

: to effect by indirect means or by subterfuge what cannot be accomplished directly

it was characteristic … that he could whip the devil around the stump yet really give him a whipping — G.W.Johnson

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.