get blood from a turnip
Seeking the unavailable
To get blood from a turnip is to attempt something impossible, specifically to extract money, help, or resources from someone or something that has none to give.
The phrase often appears in the negative: You can't get blood from a turnip means there's no point trying to collect from someone who's broke or squeeze effort from someone who's exhausted.
The turnip represents anything fundamentally incapable of yielding what you want, no matter how hard you try.
- ineffectualFailing to achieve purpose
- fruitlessProducing no useful outcome
- impossibleIncapable of occurring
- unproductiveFailing to achieve results
- herding catsCoordinating the uncoordinated
spinning your wheels · futile · beating a dead horse · tilting at windmills · vain · destitution · insufficiency · poverty · hopeless · unavailing · unprofitable · uphill battle · dead end · fool's errand · wild goose chase · pointless · useless · lack
get blood from a turniplike taking candy from a baby
piece of cake · low-hanging fruit · easy as pie · child's play · slam dunk
get blood from a turnipstrike gold
Achieve sudden success
embarrassment of riches · manna from heaven · cornucopia · land of milk and honey · cash cow
getting, blood, bloods, bloody, bloodied, bloodying, bloodier, bloodiest, turnip