- English translation
Easing the grip on the throat is like being given a drink.
- Literal wording
Loosening the stranglehold is a drink.
- Meaning and lesson
The picture is of a hold clamped around the throat. When that grip slackens, the person caught in it can breathe again, and the saying likens this loosening to a welcome drink, treating the easing of a choking constraint as refreshing in itself.
The weight falls on degree rather than completeness. The hold does not have to be removed entirely for the relief to count; even a modest slackening is presented as enough to let a person catch their breath and recover some ease.
- When it is used
Suited to moments when a tight constraint on someone loosens only partway, to remark that this partial slackening already brings a real measure of ease and should be recognized as such.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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