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have one's work cut out for one

have one's work cut out for one idiom
Face a difficult task, as in This is a very large house to manage, so I have my work cut out for me. This expression alludes to cloth cut out to make a garment. [c. 1600]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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