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Think about it for a minute. If you're up a tree and have climbed out onto a limb, can you get down easily? No, you're stuck. If you're out on a limb, you've gotten into a situation where you can't get back out of it easily.
To "go out on a limb" basically means "I'm going to take a risk" or "I'm going to risk guessing". For example, if a hesitant person asks someone out, she is going out on a limb.
Children, especially boys, enjoy climbing trees, if given the opportunity. Climbing vertically and clinging to the main vertical part of the tree, its trunk, is much safer than moving away horizontally on a limb, or large branch of the tree. The farther out, away from the trunk, you go, the more likely the branch will bend lower because of your weight. If you were to venture out far enough, the limb would no longer be able to support the climber, and would break. Thus, we use this idiom to mean taking a path involving additional risks, straying from the much safer, central or conservative approach or path.
To 'go out on a limb' means to take a risk, or do something that is unfamiliar/uncomfortable to you.
ex. The boy went out on a limb and asked the girl out to the dance.
You mean "go out on a limb." It is not an idiom, but a figure of speech referring to the precarious position of a person out on the limb of a tree. To go out on a limb means to make a crucial guess or assertion, or leap to a conclusion, while acknowledging how easily one could be proven wrong, as a person out on a tree limb could be felled by simply cutting the limb off.
For example: The Party claims it will change in order to broaden its appeal, but let me go out a limb, here: it will only try to fool a more diverse population into voting for it.
I think it means that the person was brave or taking a chance. Like you're taking a chance if you walk out on a tree branch/limb, because it might snap.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Wiki User
∙ 7y agoThe saying is either:
- I am going out on a limb for you (ie crawling to the end of a dangerous tree branch)
or
- I am sticking my neck out over this (sticking it out to the point where it is exposed and someone my chop my head off)
Wiki User
∙ 9y agoit means to take a chance or risk
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What does you are sticking your neck out on a limb mean?
This is a mix of two sayings. "Sticking your neck out" and "being out on a limb". both mean you are putting yourself in a precarious position and may come to harm for it.
What does I am sticking my neck on out on a limb mean?
The saying is either:I am going out on a limb for you (ie crawling to the end of a dangerous tree branch)orI am sticking my neck out over this (sticking it out to the point where it is exposed and someone my chop my head off)
What does sticking out your neck mean?
risking your a**/going out of your way
How do flamingos find food?
by sticking there neck in the water
What does dismemberment mean?
loss of a body part. usually a limb, or part of a limb.
Is sticking out her neck an idiom?
Yes because it makes no sense unless you know the meaning.
Is sticking up your pinkey finger mean sticking up your middle finger in China?
Yes. It does mean that
What does exit leg mean in a rebus puzzle?
Out on a limb
What does unobstrusive mean?
subtle; not sticking out
The right lymphatic duct receives lymph coming from the?
Right side of the head, neck, right upper limb, and right thorax.
What does P mean in text messages?
:-p is a sideways face sticking its tongue out at you.
What does bough mean?
A bough is a limb or branch of a tree.
