At the drop of the hat, literally, the race or fight commences. Immediately, that is, without delay. Likewise, figuratively, ...

Hence, figuratively speaking, “the last man standing” is often used to describe the lone survivor of any disastrous situation ...

Anyways, the earliest media citation of “getting their ducks in a row” is this, according to TheIdioms.com: The earliest ...

As an idiom, “hanging by a thread” comes from the Greek legend popularly known as the Sword of Damocles, as TheIdioms.com ...

“Empty” in the idiom “run on empty”, however, does not refer to empty or starving stomachs. Instead, it refers to automobiles running on empty, i.e. on an empty tank. Tank is what contains gasoline ...