When a blacksmith is forging, he must heat up a piece of metal until it glows red-hot. Then, he has a limited amount of time while the metal is still soft enough to be shaped with the hammer. If too many pieces of metal are heated in the forge at once, the blacksmith will not have time to work with all of them fast enough, thus being unable to shape one piece while other pieces overheat or become ruined. This is the allusion in the idiom “too many irons in the fire,” which has been in general use since the mid-1500s.
Meaning of Idiom ‘Too Many Irons in the Fire’
1. to have too many irons in the fire means to be engaged in too many activities or undertakings at once and thus to be unable to give adequate attention to any one of them, therefore risking failure or mistakes.
2. doing too many things so that none of them are done well.
3. having too many things to do or more projects than one can handle; being too busy. 1Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.,2Spears, Richard A. McGraw-Hill’s American Idioms Dictionary. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.,3Ammer, Christine. The Dictionary of Cliches: a Word Lover’s Guide to 4,000 Overused Phrases and Almost-Pleasing Platitudes. Skyhorse Publishing, 2014.
Sentence Examples
“You’ve got too many irons in the fire as it is. Are you sure you want to take on another project?”
“I can’t come over right now. I’ve got too many irons in the fire right now.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t get the assignment done on time. I just had too many irons in the fire.”
“Mack is working two jobs while trying to raise his kids alone. He’s got way too many irons in the fire and yet he still makes time to help his mother.”
Origin
Used since the mid-1500s, this idiom comes from blacksmithing, where, if a smithy heated too many pieces of metal in the forge (fire) at once, he risked ruining the forging of some of them.
Similar Idiom To ‘Too Many Irons in the Fire’
