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Spanner

Posted by R. Berg on July 08, 2003

In Reply to: Throw a spanner in the works posted by SFC on July 08, 2003

: Hi:

: When he found out that he couldn't persuade his competitor to drop out of the game, he decided
: to throw a spanner in the works.

: Here, what does "to throw a spanner in the works" mean?

:Thanks!

To sabotage a process, by analogy with jamming the moving parts of a machine by throwing a tool into it. The U.S. expression is "throw a monkey wrench in the works." British "spanner" = American "wrench."

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