Phrases

choi

The day before, I had a posting titled "New York Times, Sept 26, 2019" whose second item explained "hand [or cap] in hand." Two images were intended but I had just one. Here is (B).

(ii) images:
(A) http://www.idioms4you.com/complete-idioms/hat-in-hand.

The image appears mid-page on the right margin.
(B) https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattknudsen/4965388562

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(1) Dion Nissenbaum, With Chips Down, Saudis Find Fewer Friends in the US. Wall Street Journals, Sept 26, 2019
(paragraph 1: "In a moment of need, reeling from a devasting attack on key oil facilities, Saudi Arabia is finding few friends these days in Washington or across the US")

Note:
(a)
(i) Dion (etymology): "a male given name"
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Dion#English
(ii) The Jewish (Ashkenazic) surname Nissenbaum is "from German Nüsse nuts + [noun masculine] Baum tree. The transformation of ü into i (unrounding) is due to Yiddish influence."  Dictionary of American Family Names, by Oxford University Press.

German-English dictionary:
Nuss (noun femininel plural Nüsse): "nut"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nuss

(b) when the chips are down
(i) "informal  when you are in a very difficult or dangerous situation, especially one that makes you understand the true value of people or things"
https://dictionary.cambridge.org ... -the-chips-are-down
(ii)
• "When a situation has become difficult. The expression alludes to having a low amount of poker chips, which means that one may soon lose."
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. 2015.
• "Fig. at the final, critical moment [but otherwise unexplained]"
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. 2002,
• "When a situation is urgent or desperate, as in When the chips were down, all the children came home to help their mother. This expression comes from poker, where chips represent money being bet. When all the bets have been made, and the chips put down, the hand is over and the players turn up their cards to see who has won. [Late 1800s]"
Christine Ammer, The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co, 2003.
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/when+the+chips+are+down
(c) "With chips down" is a shortened form which can be found when one googles it.

choi

(2) Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Pelosi Deaws on 25 Years of Intelligence Oversight in Investigating Trump. New York Times, Sept 26, 2019, at page A13.

(a) the first four paragraphs:

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Trump were discussing gun violence over the telephone Tuesday morning [Sept 24] when the president abruptly changed the topic to an intelligence community whistleblowerthat had Democrats talking about impeachment.

"Ms Pelosi stopped him short.

" ' Mr President,' she declared, according to a person familiar with the conversation, 'you have come into my wheelhouse.'

"The remark was a reference to Ms Pelosi's quarter-century of experience with intelligence matters in Congress, , an aspect of her biography that played a central role in her decision on Tuesday to open a formal impeachment inquiry into Mr Trump.

(b) "Long before she was the speaker [of the House], Ms Pelosi served as the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, overseeing the secretive workings of America's national security apparatus and helping to draft the law that governs how intelligence officials file whistle-blower complaints, and how that information is shared with Congress.

Note: come to my wheelhouse
(a) wheel-house (n): "also wheelhouse, 1835, 'structure enclosing a large wheel,' especially one over the steering wheel of a steamboat, thus 'pilot house;' from wheel (n) + house (n). Baseball slang sense of 'a hitter's power zone' attested by 1990"
https://www.etymonline.com/word/wheel-house
(b) glossary of English-language idioms derived from baseball
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gl ... baseball#wheelhouse
("wheelhouse[:] From the term for a batter's power zone, usually waist high and over the middle of the plate. Etymology attributed to Peter Tamony [1902 – 1985; an American folk-etymologist: en.wikipedia.org; folk-etymology means etymology via imagination without documentary proof] who suggested that batters 'wheel' at the ball and 'take good, level "roundhouse" swings.'  <Bill Clinton's campaign strategist (in 1991 and 1885) James 'Carville also said he had not spoken with Hillary Clinton about [US ambassador to UN (1997-1998) & US Secretary of Energy (1998-2001), both of which under Bill Clinton + New Mexico governor )2003-2011) Bill] Richardson's endorsement [in 2007 presidential campaign of Barack Obama (Hilary Clinton's rival)], but that he was outraged. 'I doubt if Gov Richardson and I will be terribly close in the future,' he said, but 'I've had my say. . . . I got one in the wheelhouse and I tagged him'>"
(i) Wikipedia supplied the citation for the proceeding quotation: Obama Supporter References Bill Clinton and 'Blue Dress.' CNN, Mar 24, 2008.
www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/24/campaign.wrap/index.html
(ii) glossary (n): "an alphabetical list of terms peculiar to a field of knowledge with definitions or explanations"
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/glossary
(iii) roundhouse (n):
"2: a circular building for housing and repairing locomotives
3: [boxing slang] a blow delivered with a wide swing"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/roundhouse

To visualize definition 2, view photos in
railway roundhouse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_roundhouse

The "boxing slang" in definition 3 is from Collinsdictionary.com for the same word.
(iv) tag (vt): "2: to hit solidly"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tag
(c) Rather than "come to my wheelhouse," the following phrases are more common:
wheelhouse: "[phrases:] in my wheelhouse +out of my wheelhouse, outside my wheelhouse + outside of my wheelhouse"
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wheelhouse